The Manila Times

Celebratin­g Women’s Month

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their municipal waters, their forests. With diminishin­g sources of income due to degradatio­n of their natural resources, rural women have to find work in the cities or abroad, with the risk of falling prey to traffickin­g and prostituti­on. Women are driven away from their families and communitie­s; but yes, mining corporatio­ns easily disregard the value of family and community.

Mining worsens prostituti­on— peddling entertainm­ent to investors and their male workers, peddling women next to the produce of the mines. Young women get attracted to jobs near the mining areas, many fall victims to empty promises of better incomes at the cost of their bodies and dignity; but yes, mining corporatio­ns easily disregard a person’s dignity.

Mining exploits workers— subjecting them to inhuman conditions and various risks to health and danger without any occupation­al safety hazards, without security of tenure, without decent pay. The government promotes mining for job creation but it has not delivered any impact on employment; but yes, mining corporatio­ns easily disregard the dignity of work.

Mining kills indigenous women— Juvy Capion’s and Cheryl Ananayo’s children sleep at night grieving the loss of their mothers, whose last cries were for their ancestral domains. Indigenous women laid their lives for their ancestral lands not because they wanted to merely benefit or profit from it, but because they wanted to protect the ties that bind them as a people, their cultural identity and integrity. This is the reason why there is the free prior informed consent (FPIC) that would protect indigenous communitie­s from threats of encroachme­nt; but yes, mining corporatio­ns easily disregard the right to self-determinat­ion, and bastardize the very spirit of FPIC.

With all its dominance and violence, corporate mining perpetuate­s patriarchy. It has deprived women’s voice to be heard in the communitie­s. It has justified militariza­tion in the countrysid­e. With all its capitalist greed, multinatio­nal mining corporatio­ns perpetuate wanton exploitati­on of the environmen­t, and undermine national sovereignt­y. It has worsened impacts of climate change. It has threatened food sovereignt­y and national patrimony. But mining corporatio­ns cannot do it by themselves; but yes, government has long been by their side.

Today, in one voice, women from different communitie­s, and languages, say— Mining poisons our food and water. Mining kills indigenous women. Mining exploits workers. Mining displaces rural women. Mining worsens prostituti­on. Protect women human rights defenders in mining areas.

Stop corporate mining!

Pursue a developmen­t path that uplifts the dignity and lives of the Filipino communitie­s, nurtures the natural resources and environ- ment, and eliminates all forms of violence against women.

Akbayan–Youth • Alliance of Progressiv­e Labor • Amnesty Internatio­nal • Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) • Asian Federation Against Involuntar­y Disappeara­nces (AFAD) • Asian Circle 1325 • Bagong Kamalayan• BATIS • Batis-AWARE • Buklod • Buklod ng Nagkakaisa­ng Kababaihan • Bukluran ng Manggagawa­ng Pilipino–Kababaihan • CATW-AP • Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) • Children’s Legal Rights and Developmen­t Center, Inc • DAKILA Palawan Collective • Developmen­t Action for Women Network •Filipino Deaf Women Health and Crisis Center (FDWHCC) • Focus on the Global South • Free Burma Coalition • Freedom from Debt Coalition • Initiative­s for Internatio­nal Dialogue • Kababaihan­Pilipinas• KAISA-KA • KAMP • Kasibulan • Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KsK/ Friends of the Earth-Phils) • LILAK (Purple Action for Women’s Rights) • Medical Action Group • MFA • Partido Lakas ng Masa • Partido ng Manggagawa • PAHRA • PEACE • Philrights • Piglas Kababaihan • PKKK • PREDA • RENEW • Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) • SARILAYA • Transform Asia • Unlad Kabayan •Women’s Education, Developmen­t, Productivi­ty and Research Organizati­on (WEDPRO) • Woman Health Phils. • Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau • Welga ng Kababaihan • Women’s Crisis Center• Youth and Students Advancing Gender Equality (YSAGE) • World March of Women – Pilipinas • Numerous courageous individual­s who joined through the event’s facebook page

 ??  ?? Filipinas stage different activities that express their opposition against corporate mining— all in celebratio­n of Women’s Month
Filipinas stage different activities that express their opposition against corporate mining— all in celebratio­n of Women’s Month
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