Groups warn catastrophe after resumption of open-pit mining

Manila

– The Anakpawis Party-list and the fishers’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) warn the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of a major environmental catastrophe with the lifting of the four-year-old ban on open-pit mining.

In a joint statement, PAMALAKAYA and Anakpawis said that “on top of the productive farmlands, forests, and fishing waters, the livelihood of farmers, indigenous peoples, and fisherfolks are at stake with the resumption of one of the most destructive processes of extracting minerals”.

“The resumption of open-pit mining is heading our environment towards a major disaster in the making. The country’s productive agricultural and fisheries resources will be sacrificed for this extreme greed for profit of mining corporations at the cost of the people’s socio-economic rights, national patrimony, and sound and sustainable environment. Moreover, this order is a betrayal against the people who continue to defend their livelihood and rights to a healthy ecology,” Fernando Hicap, former Anakpawis Party-list representative said in a statement.

Hicap, currently the National Chairman of PAMALAKAYA, also lamented the effects of open-pit mining in nearby streams, rivers, and seas. Citing what happened in the municipal waters of Sta. Cruz, Zambales, the fishers’ group said that waters in the town have turned red due to the nickel tailings from the mining operations in the mountains.

“As a result of the nickel tailings, traditional fish species that used to thrive in the municipal waters have become extinct. Moreover, the tailings have destroyed several reefs that used to be the breeding grounds of fish. Until now, those big mining companies responsible for the degradation of fishing waters have yet to compensate the