Opportunity for PGIS practitioners to map Batak ancestral lands and indigenous peoples’ and community conserved areas and territories (ICCAs) in Northern Palawan, the Philippines

The Coalition against Land Grabbing (CALG) is a national coalition of indigenous peoples and local communities based in the province of Palawan (the Philippines). CALG is looking for young PGIS practitioners to help mapping Batak ancestral lands and ICCAs in northern Palawan. Specifically, they seek support for GPS-based resources inventories, geotagging of relevant locations (hunting grounds, upland farms, ritual sites, etc.).

One  aim of the project is to generate interactive maps that could serve to raise awareness on how the Batak of Palawan manage and perceive their cultural landscape. The interactive display of satellite imagery, enriched with location-based multimedia and other  layers of information, would also provide evidence of on-going threats to forest resources and Batak livelihood and cultural integrity.

Social cartography, emphasizing culturally distinct understanding of landscape, will be overlapped with geo-spatial maps.  The former will include the use of local place names, information on the actual and historical land uses, oral traditions, cosmovisions and testimonies linked to short video-clips syndicated from Google Video or You Tube, photographs (via Panoramio) and text.

CALG envisages that these maps would become the discursive patrimony of the Batak indigenous people and provide them with the necessary legal evidence to apply for Certificates of Ancestral Land Titles (CALTs) and to have their ICCAs included in the ICCA Registry of the United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC).

The project is on-going and it will end in June 2018.  Assistance for geotagging and mapping is particularly sought during the dry season (between February and May 2017), depending on the availability of PGIS practitioners.  Due to global climate changes, dry season is not necessarily confined to the period mentioned above, but could also extend up to June.

selected candidates will receive free food and lodging during the research, domestic travel costs will be reimbursed and a basic honorarium based on Philippine’s standards will be provided.

During the various stages of project implementation CALG and PGIS practitioners will closely collaborate with the Batak Federation (Bayaan it Batak kat Palawan – BBKP).

Those interested can approach the Coalition against Land Grabbing (CALG) through this email address: calgpalawan@gmail.com

Most recent CALG geotagged reports 

• The Aborlan West- coast geotagged report

• The Puerto Princesa west-coast geotagged report

• The ‘Sarong’ geotagged report

Controversial blaming game on deforestation in Palawan, the Philippines

Joint press-release by CALG (Coalition against Land Grabbing) and NATRIPAL (United Tribes of Palawan)

Recent years have seen an exponential increase in land deals across the Philippines with the conversion of large expanses of land with crops mainly intended for export while traditional upland farming implemented through swidden (‘slash-and-burn’) technology (kaingin) is demonized and antagonized through restrictive legislation. The latter, however, fosters local self-sufficiency and plays a fundamental role in the livelihood and worldviews of indigenous societies.

AGUMIL/PPVOMI oil palm expansion in Bataraza, Palawan

Palawan, known as the “Philippine last Frontier”, in spite of its unique recognition as a UNESCO Man & Biosphere Reserve, has not been spared from massive investments in extractive resources and industrial agriculture, especially oil palm and rubber development.  And yet, indigenous people and upland dwellers continue to be blamed for massive deforestation and ecological disaster. Not surprisingly, the recent front cover of a well known Philippine Newspaper (the Daily Inquirer, May 9 issue) holds a headline post with a powerful image that easily conflates all upland peoples as criminal agriculturalists “Images are powerful and can be damaging” says Wolfram Dressler a Research Fellow from the University of Melbourne (Australia) who has carried out extensive anthropological research in Palawan. ”They can direct blame without nuance and context.  The masses (and government) absorb such images to reinforce centuries old narratives demonizing kaingin - a term that many farmers avoid because of its pejorative nature” adds Dressler.

The Inquirer’s article was triggered by an aerial survey carried out by the Center for Sustainability (CS), a nonprofit organization claiming to work for sustainable development in Palawan. The group spotted from the air key locations, previously covered by forest, and which have now been subject to clearing due to various external forces (mining, oil palm plantations and shifting agriculture (locally known as kaingin, or more appropriately ‘uma’). According to the group, in addition to clearing by ‘poor farmers’, forest burning in the south has been linked to the proliferation of palm oil and rubber plantations, and the main target of ‘slash-and-burn’ activities is the clearing of primary forests for development.

Ironically, for carrying out its photo survey CS conservationists alegedly borrowed the private plane of Jose Alvarez, the present Governor of Palawan, a well-known supporter of large-scale agro-industry, especially rubber which accelerates deforestation and deprives more traditional indigenous communities of their resource-base.  He is chairing the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD). In principle, this government body is mandated to ensure the sustainable development of the whole province, through the implementation of the Strategic Environmental Plan – SEP (R.A. Republic Act 7611). The latter mandates that no development project should take place in Palawan unless the proponents secure the so called SEP clearance.  Surprisingly, as of now, massive oil palm expansion and related forest clearing have taken placed unabated without SEP clearances.   “Here in Palawan” says Marivic Bero (Secretary General of the Coalition against Land Grabbing - CALG). “We have the best laws in place to protect both the environment and the rights of our indigenous peoples.   However, the limits of law lay within the implementation process, wherein rules and regulations are conditioned by the inability of concerned government agencies and their officials to stand by their own mandates”. She further argues that the government prohibition to ban kaingin represents a blatant violation of the major tenets of the ‘Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997’ (Republic Act no. 8371) which recognizes, protects and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural communalities. “This is a very powerful law” says Bero “and should not be undermined by ‘minor’ laws and municipal ordinances banning shifting cultivation (kaingin)”.

While Palawan environment is being affected by agribusiness (mainly oil palm and rubber), mining enterprises - and various forms of land grabbing - state agencies such as PCSD (as well as some Palawan NGOs) still view indigenous kaingin as ‘illegitimate agriculture’ and as the primary cause of deforestation.  “Turning a blind eye to the plunder of forests by industrial logging, mining activities, agribusiness, and livestock production, state agencies continue to label and classify kaingin farmers as primitive, backward and unproductive who waste valuable forest resources, particularly timber” says Dressler. “In this way”, he adds “Government agencies have unleashed anti-kaingin campaigns that justified the resettling of kaingineros and adoption of permanent forms of agriculture that are not suited for the uplands.  In turn, kaingin is coercively regulated with fines or jail time, while indigenous upland farmers are frequently harassed by forest guards”.

In 1994, a ban against shifting cultivation (bawal sa kaingin) was enforced by former Mayor Edward Hagedorn through the so called ‘bantay gubat’: an implementing arm composed of poorly trained forest guards.  When this happened, no murmur of dissent was raised by Palawan NGOs, in spite of the severe hardship experienced by hundreds of indigenous communities because of the ban. The latter, however, was strongly opposed by Survival International (SI), the global movement for tribal peoples' rights.  The international campaign by Survival International resulted in a partial lifting of the ban.  Apparently, at the end, the former Mayor decided to allow Batak as well as Tagbanua tribes to continue their traditional kaingin practices with a ‘controlled burning’ rather than the previous ‘zero burning’ policy.  However – as the years passed by – the ‘ban on kaingin’ was imposed again with vigor and is now being implemented under the current administration "Ever since the ban on shifting cultivation was implemented in PPC Municipality, Survival has been lobbying for the government to exempt indigenous communities, such as the Batak, from the ban”   says Sophie Grig, Senior Campaigner at Survival International. "We are disappointed that in spite of international pressure, the local government still continues to implement a law which is creating food-shortage and malnutrition amongst the previously self-sufficient tribes of Northern Palawan". In spite of its failure, the ‘ban on kaingin’ initially implemented in Puerto Princesa Municipality, is now being emulated by others.  Recently, the Government of Brooke’s Point has proposed the implementation of similar restrictions in its own municipality and, if the ban will push through, hundreds of upland Pala’wan communities will be threatened with food insecurity and malnourishment.

Geotagging of a mountain range within MMPL used sustainably
by upland Pala’wan since time immemorial 

The CS aerial survey has added more fuel to the fire, through the production of dramatic photos--- images that, however, lack of context.  These images have prompted Governor Jose Alvarez to declare war on kaingin by proposing the creation of a ‘forest conservation task force that will undertake a 10-year plan to arrest the problem of slash-and-burn farming’.   “We are extremely worried about these new developments” says John Mart Salunday an indigenous Tagbanua who is presiding NATRIPAL, the largest indigenous federation in Palawan. “There are several indigenous communities’ conserved areas (ICCAs) in our province where traditional kaingin has been sustainably practiced from generations to generations.

Batak girl harvesting new upland rice

Unfortunately, the 'anti-kaingin policy' and the ‘bantay gubat’ implementing it, make no distinction between unsustainable 'kaingin' done by Filipino migrants and the traditional 'kaingin' still practiced by many indigenous people.” says Salunday. “Upland rice is such a strong part of our identify and our people have selected more than 80 varieties of rice over hundreds of years, not to mention the diversity of other crops: cassava, ubi, sweet potatoes, banana and many others.  If all this is taken away from us, our tribes will have no future” he adds.

The richness and complexity of indigenous upland farming systems in Palawan has not gone unnoticed to both local and foreign researchers such as Roy Cadelina, James Eder, Melanie McDermott, Nicole Revel, Charles Macdonald, Wolfram Dressler and Dario Novellino who have carried out in-depth studies on indigenous farming practices and on their relevance in people’s cosmologies, worldviews, identities and ethnobiological knowledge.  “If one compares the wisdom of indigenous upland farmers to the ignorance of most foresters, politicians and conservation biologists in the same field of knowledge, the gap is striking”  says  Dario Novellino, an anthropologist of the Centre for Biocultural Diversity of the University of Kent (UK) who has lived in Palawan over a period of almost 30 years. He sustains that the government ban on kaingin, implemented in Puerto Princesa, rather than protecting the environment, has placed insurmountable pressure on the forest and has also altered the sustainability of the indigenous farming system.   “I have see forest guards (bantay gubat) advising indigenous farmers to cut only very small trees for their ‘uma’ (upland fields) and to cultivate the same plots of land continuously” says Novellino “these indications are based on a very poor understanding of forest ecology. If you clear areas where only small trees are found, it means that you are going to plant land that has not yet regenerated its soil nutrients.  When you cultivate these fragile soils, over and over, you cause them to become infertile. Ultimately, only cogun (Imperata cylindrica) will thrive in these areas and the forest will never grow back”.

Pala’wan horticulturists  in the uplands
of Brookes’ Point Municipality

Well-known scholars have argued that traditionally practiced kaingin (or integral kaingin) involves the intermittent clearing of small patches of forest for subsistence food crop production, followed by longer periods of fallow in which forest re-growth restores productivity to the land. “Kaingin can yield complex assemblages of forest and other vegetation in unique mosaics comprised of open canopy tree associations to mature closed-canopy forest systems best understood at the landscape scale. As a complex system of agriculture and forestry, integrating production from cultivated fields and diverse secondary forests, kaingin farming may yield a wide range of ecosystem services and resources integral to livelihoods and forest environments in the mountains of Palawan” says Dressler. However, when such a complex system is altered, as for instance, due to the implementation of punitive policies, the repercussions on forest ecology and people’s sustenance becomes dramatic. According to Novellino, when indigenous upland communities are not allowed to procure part of the needed ‘carbohydrates’ (rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, etc.) through their farming practices, they are forced, as a result, to increase pressure on commercially valuable NTFPs (rattan, almaciga and honey) which they sell to purchase rice.  Ultimately, this may result in the fast depletion of non-timber forest resources and more pressure on the forest itself. Indeed, this is exactly what has happened because of the implementation of the ‘zero burning policy’ by former Mayor Edward Hagedorn.

Mining concessions in Palawan

One can only speculate why the Government of Palawan is so quick in raising its voice against kaingin while, on the other hand, remains silence when huge expanses of land, forest and fertile grounds are given away for agribusinesses. But, at least, we know the official explanation: oil palms are only planted on ‘idle’ and ‘abandoned’ land to enhance the province’s economy while increasing job opportunities and transforming unused areas in productive plantations.  But are such lands really ‘idle’ and ‘abandoned’?  A recent study carried out by ALDAW (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch) has clearly proven the contrary. The study argues that most of these so called 'idle' and 'unproductive' lands include areas that have been used since time immemorial by IPs societies.  “The removal of natural vegetation and of previous agricultural improvements by oil palm plantations is leading to the total collapse of traditional livelihoods, thus fostering communities’ impoverishment and increasing malnutrition” says Novellino. He sustains that what the Government has failed to consider is that most of the so called ‘idle’ and ‘underdeveloped’ lands include areas that are being utilized by rural and indigenous populations for different purposes (gathering of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), medicinal plants, kaingin, etc).  He believes that a direct relationship exists between oil palm/cash crop expansion, the impoverishment of people’s diet, the progressive deterioration of traditional livelihood and the interruption of cultural transmission related to particular aspects of people’s local knowledge.

As argued by Dressler “In contrast to commercially oriented monocultures, mixed swidden systems benefit Palawan’s indigenous peoples by offering a variety of timber and non-timber harvests for subsistence and commercial sales to diversify production and spread risks, thus avoiding the ecological and economic shocks associated with relying on one product too heavily”. Apparently, this is not perceived by the Government as a sufficiently strong reason to switch its development agenda towards more sustainable forms of agriculture.   Instead, local food security continues to be sacrificed in the name of oil palm and rubber development while anti-kaingin policies are strongly implemented with no distinction between traditional indigenous farming practices and migrants’ unsustainable slash-and-burning.  “If the government is serious about ensuring the welfare of its constituents” says Welly Mande a Tagbanua of CALG  “ it should enhance the capability of upland farmers to produce enough food, rather than fostering cash crop such as oil palms and rubber that are not for local consumption but for export”.   “What we would need instead” adds Mandi  “are lower risk models of agricultural development that give a greater share of  benefits to the poor while improving and fostering the production of endemic crops such as coconuts and rice”.

For the sake of fairness, we should now ask ourselves whether, at the present, all indigenous shifting cultivation practices throughout Palawan are always sustainable (based on long fallow periods). The answer is NO but, again, the blame for forest destruction should not be placed on upland dwellers.   Perhaps, one should look instead at the historical process that have led to unsustainable kaingin practices such as the dramatic reduction of  indigenous ancestral domains due to massive migration of landless farmers, encroachment by mining and plantation companies, insurgency and militarization just to mention few.

Official propaganda against kaingin, coupled by NGOs’ market-based conservation approaches, continues to provide additional incentives for international institutions to finance more of the same (e.g. reforestation of indigenous fallow fields which are wrongly classified as ‘degraded areas’). Often, such reforestation programs deprive local communities of those areas that are necessary for fields’ rotation, hence jeopardizes the sustainability of their farming system.

It will require detailed and multidisciplinary studies to determine where, and to what extent,  the conditions for optimal long fallows in Palawan are still present and how many indigenous communities are still practicing long rotation cycles. In turn, the law should move away from coercion and demonization of kaingin towards more culturally sensitive approaches that provide incentives to indigenous cultivators for increasing and fostering production of local genetic varieties or rice and other traditional cultivars.  In places where swidden practices have become irreversibly unsustainable, specific strategies should be developed in close coordination with local communities, rather than imposing top-down technical solutions and enforce legal persecution. In short, upland farming strategies should be evaluated through an integrated and interactive long-term process of research and development in close partnership with local upland farmers. This process should identify indigenous best farming practices, understanding them and the contexts in which these are used. Meanwhile, in the short term, it would work better if some media would refrain from publishing images that uncritically depict upland dwellers as ‘environmental criminals’, putting the blame of deforestation on those who suffers from it most.

Oil palm expansion in the Philippines: geo-tagged evidences of an imminent tragedy

By ALDAW Network (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch): Between June and August 2009, an ALDAW mission travelled to the Municipalities of Brooke’s Point and Sofronio Española (Province of Palawan) to carry out field reconnaissance and audio-visual documentation on the social and ecological impact of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantations.  The mission’s primary task focused on two major objectives: 1) gathering data through interviews, ocular inspection and participatory geographic information systems methodologies; 2) providing communities with detailed information on the ecological and social impact of oil palm plantations, to allow them to make informed decisions while confronting oil palm companies, state laws and bureaucracy.

Successive ALDAW field appraisals in oil palm impacted areas took place between July 2010 and early 2013, and included the Municipalities of Aborlan, Rizal and Quezon. During ALDAW field research, GPS coordinates were obtained through the use of a professional device connected to the camera’s hot shoe.  

The geotagged images have been loaded into a geo-aware application and displayed on satellite Google map. The actual ‘matching’ of GPS data to photographs has revealed that, in specific locations, oil palm plantations are expanding at the expenses of primary and secondary forest and are competing with pre-existing cultivations (coconut groves, fruit tress, wet-rice, etc).

The conversion of productive paddy land and forest into oil palm plantations is particularly evident in the Municipality of Quezon .

Oil palm plantations have also expanded in areas used by indigenous people for the cultivation of local varieties of upland rice, root crops and fruit trees.  Furthermore, the fencing of large areas of oil palm plantations makes it difficult for local communities to reach their upland fields and forest.

Geottaged evidences have also revealed the exact location of commonly used NTFPs, such as buri palms (Corypa elata) and bamboos that are being destroyed through massive land clearing by oil palm companies.

Moreover, geocoded photos have provided indications on the location of rivers and freshwater sources that are being incorporated into oil palm plantations and that are likely to become polluted through the use of pesticides and fertilizers.

These freshwater sources provide potable water for local communities and some of them are essential for the maintenance of community-based dams.

Initial steps are now being taken to establish collaborative exchanges between the oil palm impacted indigenous communities of Palawan and those of Mindanao which are facing a similar fate.  These exchanges and cross-visits will include training courses on geotagging and participatory videos done by indigenous peoples (ALDAW staff) to other indigenous groups such as the Higaonon of Bukidnon.  In addition to this, during such cross-visits, common advocacy strategies to resist oil palm expansion nationwide will be identified.

In response to recent research findings, see Palawan Oil Palm Geotagged Report 2013 (Part 1 and Part 2)

ALDAW has launched two major campaign initiatives:

• Petition 1 (covers Palawan and Mindanao, addressed to the National Government) 
• Petition 2 (covers Palawan specifically, addressed towards the Provincial Government, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)

Oil palm expansion on indigenous land both in Palawan and Mindanao should be stopped with haste, before its adverse socio-ecological impact becomes irreversible. Please, give your contribution by signing the above petitions.

Palawan - our struggle for nature and culture

The struggle to save Palawan (known as the Philippines’ Last Frontier) is not only about saving trees and rare species. It is also about nourishing the Filipino cultural heritage, so powerfully represented by those indigenous communities that - after escaping Spanish and American colonization (while resisting the new ‘mining imperialism’ now) - continue to represent the 'living roots' from which all Filipinos originate. Therefore, environmental plundering by mining companies is not only a crime against nature but it is also a crime against culture, a sort of genocide that annihilates the most profound roots of the Filipino's history and ultimately plunders the cultural heritage of the whole nation! In this movie, Kawali, the mythical ancestor depicted by Batak narrators emphasises humility and trust towards the supernal beings in charge of animals and plants. On the contrary, the attitude of Kawali’s brother-in-law comes to represent the epitome of inappropriate behaviour, such as the lack of respect towards the mystical keepers of animals and - here specifically - towards the “father of bees”: a relationship that contemporary Batak continues to restore though the lambay ceremony. The sudden switch between the narration of the Batak myth and the threats posed by mining companies serves to introduce the work of ALDAW, a local network of indigenous peoples struggling for the protection of their ancestral land against large-scale corporations.

Indigenous Palawan Leaders soon to Confront the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in Manila

ALDAW (press release) - The struggle of the indigenous peoples of Palawan against mining corporations is now being impaired by highly manipulative processes being carried out by both NCIP (the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) and MacroAsia Corporation.

Last week 30 “fake” tribal leaders, so-called Tribal Chieftains, went to Manila (Philippines’ Capital City) in order to show support for MacroAsia Mining Corporation (MAC), despite opposite views from the majority of the Indigenous Peoples of Palawan. These so call Tribal Chieftains have been appointed by NCIP to favour multi-billionaire Lucio Tan’s owned MacroAsia Corporation.

If this process of manipulation is not adequately counteracted, MAC may end up acquiring the required ‘social-consensus documents’ (Certificate of Precondition), which are needed in order to start mining operations in the territory of indigenous communities, some of which are still isolated and have limited contacts with the outside world.

By creating ‘ad-hoc’ “tribal leaders” NCIP and MacroAsia have bluntly disregarded local decision-making processes that are customarily facilitated by elders and so called ‘panglima’ (traditional leaders).

“These fake IP leaders” says Panglima Pedro Sagad “are paid by Macroasia and do not have any right to represent our people, especially with regards to mining companies encroaching in our ancestral territories”. According to Artiso Mandawa, Chaiman of the ALDAW network (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch): “none of these ‘so called’ tribal chieftains inhabit our ancestral land domain. Out of 30 of such representatives, 15 do not even belong to the Palawan ethnic group and eight of them are only half-blood Palawan. Of the remaining seven, two come from other parts of the Island, and five are lowland Palawan having no connections with the upland communities to be directly impacted by MacroAsia activities”.

Authentic representatives of indigenous Palawan communities (panglima), facilitated by the ALDAW network, will soon be travelling to Manila (the Philippine’s Capital City) to bring their voices and grievances to the attention of NCIP and, thus, to counterbalance the ‘fabricated’ testimonies of the ‘fake’ tribal chieftains. The mission, headed by ALDAW chairman Artiso Mandawa will be composed of seven indigenous leaders and representatives from Brooke’s Point Municipality: Pedro Sagad, Wiliton Palete, Prudencio Danadio, Ronald Cumbang, Entecio Gipaya, Titu Cui, Abelio P. Danadio.

Specifically, during the en banc NCIP meeting, the members of the delegations will make an open call to:

1. immediately investigate the mining activities inside the ancestral domain of the Palawan tribe, being carried out without the genuine free prior and informed consent of the tribe as enshrined by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) or R.A. 8371 and without the mandatory community consultations as required by the Local Government Code of 1991;
2. revise the NCIP guidelines for FPIC, in order to ensure that these will really respond to the meaning of ‘consensus’, as it is perceived by the indigenous communities themselves; 
3. carry out serious in-depth investigations to determine whether, and to what extent, the provincial NCIP officers can still perform their duties in a way that reflects the mandate and priorities of NCIP. Ultimately, those officers who have abused their power and conspired with mining companies should be removed immediately from their positions;
4. revoke and nullify all certificates of precondition issued by NCIP to mining companies in Palawan;
5. disregard the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by mining companies and ‘fake’ tribal leaders who have been appointed by the NCIP rather than by the local indigenous communities;
6. re-due all FPIC processes in conjunction with the operations of MAC and other mining companies in Palawan. 

Aside from attending the en banc NCIP meeting, the indigenous leaders – through their national supporters (‘The Alliance against Mining’ – ATM) will deliver a special message to the President of the Philippines to spare Palawan (the Philippine Last Frontier) from mining operations.

The panglima through a selected ritual specialist will also perform a ritual offering at the office of ABS-CBN Foundation in Manila.  “The purpose of the ritual” says Pedro Sagad  (panglima and ritual specialist) is “to call our ancestors to support us as well as to guide the actions of those government officials responsible for implementing the Indigenous People’s Right Act (IPRA)”. This law, so inefficiently implemented, is – in fact - aiming at protecting indigenous rights and territories nationwide. As part of the ritual there will a symbolic offering addressed to ABS-CBN Foundation (the institution spearheading the 10 Million signatures petition) consisting of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), useful plans, traditional crops and seeds that have been selected by IP of Palawan over thousands of years and in the same locations that  are now being threatened by MacroAsia Corporation.   Say Artiso Mandawa “in doing so we want to place emphasis on the fact that our indigenous people have been the guardians and stewards of these precious natural and cultivated resources over a long period of time and, without us, Palawan would not be as beautiful and green as it still is today.  This is something that environmentalists should always take into account when implementing conservation projects”.

The indigenous delegation will also meet with Cong. Baguilat (Congress Chair for Indigenous Cultural communities) and Cong. Bag-ao of AKBAYAB- Caucus Group on Indigenous People (CGIP). The purpose of these meetings is to brief both congressmen on the proposed congressional inquiry regarding the issuance of Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) and Certificates of Precondition (CP) to MacroAsia.  The Office of the Presidential Advisor on Peace Process (OPPAP) will also be visited by the delegations to discuss the increasing militarization now taking place within the ancestral domain of the indigenous Palawan communities of Brooke’s Point Municipality.

Undoubtedly, unless MacroAsia Corporation mining will be stopped, the environment on which indigenous Palawan depends for their physical subsistence and cultural sustenance will be irremediably altered.  Also indigenous peoples’ sacred and worship sites are found within the mining tenements of MacroAsia. As of now, MAC exploration activities have also taken place in areas that, according to indigenous elders, are considered as lyen or lylien (sacred forests) inhabited by powerful super-human beings (Taw Kawasa), as well as in areas that are indispensable to subsistence and wellbeing of isolated communities. ALDAW has already obtained geotagged evidences on this as well as film footage.

According to official information, between June 15 and 17, the NCIP will convene an en banc meeting to decide on the issuance or non-issuance of the Certificate of Precondition to MacroAsia Corporation.  The eventual endorsement of this important document will allow MacroAsia to proceed towards the next step: getting the (Strategic Environmental Plan) SEP clearance from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD). After that, MAC will have acquired the most important documents to start the plundering of precious forests and indigenous people ancestral domains.  All measures should be taken to reverse this trend.

What you can do ...

Address your concerns to NCIP requesting the no-issuance of the Certificate or Preconditions to MacroAsia Corporation:

Hon. Roque N. Agton Jr., NCIP Chairman
and also to the attention of the following NCIP commissioners:
HON. Zenaida Brigida Hamada-Pawid
HON. Percy A. Brawner 

HON. Conchita C. Calzado 

HON. Dionesia O. Banua

HON. Santos M. Unsad

HON. Cosme M. Lambayon

Email: resource@ncip.gov.ph

Kindly request President Benigno C. Aquino III (Malacañang Palace, Manila) to support the Brooke’s Point indigenous peoples’ claims against MacroAsia Corporation and the manipulative FPIC processes initiated by NCIP

Email: titonoy@president.gov.ph

Also Sign the no-2-mining-in-palawan petition launched by the Save Palawan Movement and the ALDAW Petition to stop the encroachment of mining corporations and oil palm plantations in the ancestral land of indigenous Palawan!

For more information watch ALDAW videos
http://www.vimeo.com/aldawnetwork
http://www.youtube.com/user/ALDAWpalawan
and see ALDAW Facebook page or contact the ALDAW INDIGENOUS NETWORK (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch) aldaw.indigenousnetwork@gmail.com

Macroasia and the Plundering of Protected Areas: Unravelling the Roots of Illegality

ALDAW, Puerto Princesa - In spite of the growing outpour of international support and solidarity, it appears to be no end to the attempts of some government institutions to transform the Philippines “Last Frontier” (Palawan Island) into one of the most popular mining destinations (click on the map below to see the details!).

Click the map to enlarge it to its original size !

Indeed, the violation of indigenous ancestral land rights on Palawan Island (Philippines) has exacerbated towards the end of 2010, with the proliferation of street protests and peaceful demonstrations. On December 21, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) [in the absence of the chair, NGO representative, and with the vice governor opposing] affirmed the decision of the PCSD executive committee made last December 4, 2010, to issue Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) clearances to Macro Asia Mining Corporation and Ipilan Nickel Mining Corporation (INC).
According to the Environmental Legal Environmental Center (ELAC) such clearances would enable these mining corporations to conduct large-scale mining operations within natural forests, protected areas and within the ancestral domain of the Palawan indigenous peoples. According to the SEP, the affected areas are classified as ‘strict protection’ or ‘core zones’ and ‘restricted use zones’. “The PCSD decision overstepped the bounds of the law that it is mandated to uphold, and ultimately placed Palawan’s natural and cultural heritages at great risk” said ELAC Attorney Gerthie Mayo Anda.

Surprisingly, on July 30, the indigenous peoples of Palawan and the local NGOs had succeeded in obtaining from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) a deferment of a SEP endorsement to MacroAsia Corp. On that occasion Governor Baham Mitra agreed to defer the decision to endorse a SEP clearance to MacroAsia until a multipartite team composed of PCSD technical staff, local government officials, NGOs and Indigenous Peoples’ representatives would have visited the proposed area to investigate indigenous peoples complaints. Sadly, since then, the PCSD has made no efforts in constituting the much-wanted “multipartite team”.

The PCSD is the government body in charge of implementing the “Strategic Environmental Plan”, a very special environmental law aiming at ensuring the sustainable development on the island. This ‘Strategic Plan’ was created and put into place through conspicuous financial resources coming from the European Union which culminated with the  implementation of the Palawan Tropical Forestry Protection Programme (PTFPP). “It would be tremendously useful if the European Commission itself would begin an in-depth evaluation on how its multi-million investments in the preservation of Palawan Island have been rather vilified by reckless mining policies and by short-sighted politicians. Somebody must be made accountable for these conservation failures” said Dario Novellino, International Coordinator of the ALDAW Network (Ancestral Land Domain Watch).

Palawan is well known as the bio-diversity richest province in the Philippines and, for this reason, in the eighties, the entire island was declared by the UNESCO as a Man and Biosphere Reserve. “We tried to approach UNESCO several times on this issue” said a spokesman of the ALDAW Network (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch). “Through its silent and inertia, the UNESCO has shown, once again, how these declarations bring little or no benefits to local communities, especially when there is no clear political commitment to uphold them. Overall UNESCO has revealed the general weakness of the entire United Nations system, that is a chronic incapacity to take unequivocal positions on urgent matters requiring unambiguous and concerted political efforts” he added.

The political squabbles underlying the mining saga on Palawan Island are clearly detected in the ambiguous behavior of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) - the official government body in charge of protecting the rights of tribal communities. As of now, the NCIP Palawan Provincial Office has bluntly violated all required procedures leading to transparent and genuine FPIC processes, siding instead with the mining companies. As a result, the indigenous communities of Brooke’s Point Municipality have bitterly rejected the so-called Certificates of Precondition issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), in favor of mining companies.

On January 2011, Alyansa Tigil Mina (“The Alliance Against Mining”) - the largest advocacy network in the Philippines - has asked clarifications to NCIP national office on the compilation of an investigation report allegedly prepared by NCIP Provincial Officer Roldan Parangue, in response to the complains raised by the indigenous people of Brookes’ Point. In a letter dated 11 January 2011 Myrna L. Caoagas, from NCIP National, stated that the NCIP main office has never received such report.
Obviously, while the NCIP is unable to provide evidences of Indigenous Peoples’ Free and Prior Informed Consent, MacroAsia Corporation and INC are working hard to prove that their operations have been favorably accepted by local communities.  Village people that are not from Brookes’ Point Municipality are “induced” by both companies to make positive statements in their favor. Specifically, Mrs. Apolonia “Onyang” De Las Alas, a councilor from Mabalot village - and originally from the Municipality of Agutaya, in the North of Palawan - was invited to talk on the behalf of the indigenous peoples of Brookes’ Point in a press conference jointly organized by MacroAsia and INC, on January 5.  This has raised a fierce reaction on the part of the traditional and legitimate indigenous leaders.  Meanwhile, the ALDAW network has decided to approach Congressman Teddy Brawner Baguilat  (chairperson of the National Cultural Committee) requesting a Congressional Investigation of these matters.However, time to save Palawan is running out: towards the end of this month, Baham Mitra, Governor of Palawan and chairman of the PCSD will express his own decision on whether to endorse a SEP clearance to MacroAsia, Ipilan Nickel Corporation and LEBACH. As of now, all these companies have failed to secure the needed social acceptability requirements and have bluntly violated the basic tenets of both the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEC) and of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA Law).

Once again, one of the government agencies to be blamed for these violations is the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (SEP). ELAC believes that “the Council overlooked the clear intent of the SEP law when it compromised its zoning policy to accommodate certain mining interests”. For the same reason, the ALDAW network has recently requested the PCSD to stop any further attempt of changing the definition of ‘core zones’ and other zones to allow mining activities in forested land.  It has already been established that some definitions such as those of “controlled use zones” found in the Strategic Environmental Plan have been amended by the Council to please extractive industries. For instance, according to the SEP law, in Controlled Use Area – (the outer protective barrier that encircles the core and restricted use areas): “strictly controlled mining and logging, which is not for profit… may be allowed”. Uncharacteristically, the “not for profit” specification has been eliminated, thus opening these zones to commercial extractive activities.

Clearly, the newly produced ALDAW video and additional geotagged evidences reveal that MacroAsia and INC have carried out exploration activities in ‘core zones’ (areas of maximum protection), as well as in ‘restricted zones’ and watershed areas. The locations of MacroAsia test-pits have been documented in areas of pristine virgin forest, and also at high altitudes (e.g. around and above 1,000 meters ASL) and specifically in those areas of primary forest where indigenous people harvest the resin of Almaciga trees (Agathis philippinensis), which is traded by the local communities for rice and other prime commodities.ALDAW geotagging-data further indicates that LEBACH drilling activities are also taking place out of the limits of its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) area.  Recently, the company has also harassed and intimidated local farmers by cutting their coconut palms, in the attempt of forcing them out of their own land. In conjunction with these field investigations, Artiso Mandawa, ALDAW national coordinator, has received persistent dead threats. “I will continue to fight for my people and my land, until the President of the Philippines puts a halt to all those mining investments that are genocidal to indigenous people” said Mandawa.

“We are afraid that the pronunciation of the newly elected President and especially of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is that they would pursue mining as an economic policy, just like the previous Arroyo government. We cannot fight climate change if we will not prioritize sustainable development” added Alyansa Tigil Mina National Coordinator Jaybee Garganera.

It is rather ironic that President “Noynoy” Aquino’s centerpiece program is poverty alleviation and strict implementation of anti-corruption measures. Corruption, however, is not only about grafting, it is a state of mind, something that contradicts all ethical principles on which human coexistence and well being should be based.  Sacrificing watersheds, forests and people’s livelihood in favor of foreign profit is unethical; it is the most corrupted way of dealing with public welfare while jeopardizing the future of the coming generations.  Surely, “Noynoy” Aquino’s fight against corruption and poverty will not be credible, until the new administration comes up with a new mining policy to ban mining in Palawan, while revoking Executive Order 270-A or the revitalization of mining for the Philippines as a whole.

What you can do ...

Sign a Petition to Stop Mining in Palawan!

And address your concerns to:

• The Office of President Benigno C. Aquino III, Malacañang Palace, Manila, Philippines; titonoy@president.gov.ph
• Honorable Governor of Palawan Baham Mitra; abmitra2001@yahoo.com; fax: 0063 (048) 433-2948 
• Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD); oed@pcsd.ph. and c/o Mearl Hilario mearlhilario@yahoo.com;  fax: 0063 (048) 434-4234
• Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); The Secretary, Ramon Jesus Paje osec@denr.gov.ph or hea@denr.gov.ph
• Mines and Geosciences Bureau mines_r4@yahoo.com
• The Man and Biosphere UNESCO (MAB) programme; The Secretary, Mr. Natarajan Ishawaran, n.ishwaran@unesco.org

For more information watch ALDAW videos on Vimeo and on YouTube or contact the ALDAW INDIGENOUS NETWORK (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch) aldaw.indigenousnetwork@gmail.com , ELAC (Environmental Legal Assistance Center) palawan@elac.org.ph or padayon_egl@yahoo.com and or Alyansa Tigil Mina (nc@alyansatigilmina.net or alyansatigilmina@gmail.com )

Source: ALDAW, 22 January 2011


ALDAW INDIGENOUS NETWORK
(Ancestral Land/Domain Watch)
is a Philippines-based advocacy campaign network of Indigenous Peoples defending their ancestral land and resources from mining corporations, oil palm companies, top-down conservation schemes and all forms of imposed development.

Macroasia scam continues: mining fever bypasesses state laws and government promises

ALDAW - September 15 - An update by the ALDAW Network (Ancestral Land Domain Watch)

Despite a growing outpour of international support and solidarity, there is no end to the attempts of the Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to transform Palawan (a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve) into one of the most popular mining destinations. Only this week, MacroAsia Multi-Billion Giant (MAC)] through the pages of the ‘Philippine Star’has announced to have received an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) from DENR to carry out mining operations over a total land area of about 1,114 hectares, in the Municipality of Brookes’ Point (see ). This will lead to the devastation of one of the last and best conserved forests in the Philippines, which treasures high-biodiversity and is also the home of vulnerable indigenous communities.

According to Artiso Mandawa (ALDAW chairman) “ECC endorsement to MacroAsia by DENR clearly shows that National decisions are violating and bypassing the legal procedures underlying the endorsement of mining permits. In Palawan the law requires mining companies to secure first a clearance from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) before applying for a ECC and – as of now - MacroAsia has failed to do so”. PCSD (/) is a local government body in charge of implementing the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP law) for the protection and sustainable management of the Province.

Surprisingly, only less than two months ago, the indigenous peoples of Palawan and the local NGOs had succeeded in obtaining from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) a deferment of a SEP endorsement to MAC. On a PCSD meeting held on July 30, GPS evidences presented by the ALDAW network (Ancestral Land Domain Watch) and by its international partner (the Centre for Biocultural Diversity (CBCD) – University of Kent) had clearly demonstrated that MAC mining interests are concentrated in areas of high biodiversity, in primary forest and up and above to 1,000m ASL. Due to the evidences jointly brought forwards by ALDAW and CBCD, it was decided to defer the decision to endorse a SEP clearance to MacroAsia until a multipartite team composed of PCSD technical staff, local government officials, NGOs and Indigenous Peoples’ representatives would have visited the proposed area to investigate ALDAW findings and the complains raised by the NGO community (see here and here). Sadly this official decision is now being circumvented by the actions of DENR.

According to the ‘Philippine Star’ article, the ECC has been released to MacroAsia after a thorough project review and a series of consultations conducted principally under the supervision of the Environmental Management Bureau. “Government authorities are lying, we indigenous communities have rejected mining ever since and even during recent public consultations” says Panglima Sagad, a local elder and traditional Palawan leader. In reality, in February 2009, a petition complaining about the lack of consultation with regard to the passage of the 2007 local government resolution endorsing mining in Brooke’s Point, was signed by both farmers and indigenous peoples. Moreover, peoples demonstrations and a rally carried out in Brookes’ Point on August 27, 2009 convinced the former Mayor to call for additional public consultations to determine the degree of public oppositions to mining activities. The result of these consultations carried out on October 27 and 28, 2009, and the final counting of the votes obtained during these events, indicate that the majority of population in barangays Ipilan and Maasin are united against, and solidly opposing mining. On March 13, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) together with MAC and Ipilan Nickel Corporation (INC) set up a public consultation in barangay Mambalot (Brooke’s Point). Interviews to community people attending the consultation, as well as the testimony of Mrs. Erlinda Edep, Barangay Captain of Mambalot, indicate that participants were paid an amount of 200.00 pesos for attending the consultation, and that this inducement was agreed by the mining companies. In spite of MAC and INC attempts to manipulate and control the whole process, the overwhelming majority of peoples attending the public consultation, still expressed their clear opposition against mining operations. Grass-root opposition to mining in Brookes’ Point has also been manifested in the course of numerous street protests culminating in the so called ‘Karaban’ rally at the Provincial Capitol on June 8, 2010

The recent article on the ‘Philippine Star’ further emphasizes that “in 2008, the Supreme Court has ruled with finality that MacroAsia has vested and legal rights to its MPSA”. However, according to Atty. Gerthie Mayo Anda of ELAC (Environmental Legal Assistant Center) “the vested argument is skewed and cannot be sustained. It is well-settled in Philippine jurisprudence that exploration, development and utilization of natural resources through licenses, concessions or leases are mere grants or privileges by the State; and being so, they may be revoked, rescinded, altered or modified when public interest so requires”. Says Atty. Mary Jean Feliciano of ALDAW “public interest in this particular case refers not only to vulnerable indigenous communities but also to thousands of migrant farmers and fishermen which have contributed to the prosperity and sustainable development of Brooke’s Point Municipality, and whose basic rights are now being trampled down”.

Ironically enough the DENR, through the issuance of an ECC to MacroAsia, is not only bypassing legal procedures, but it is also infringing the Philippine Mining Act which prohibits mining in old growth or virgin forest, proclaimed watershed forest reserves, wilderness area, and other areas of outstanding environmental value. The DENR is also neglecting those international obligations to which the Philippine Government is obliged. “Palawan, in fact, is a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve but the national government is violating the condition for which such prestigious award was granted. Not only MacroAsia operations, but also those of other mining companies in Palawan are contravening the provisions contained in well-know conventions ratified by the Philippine Government: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)], the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, etc.” says Dr. Novellino, UKC/CBCD researcher.

Allegedly MacroAsia, according to the Philippine Mineral Reporting Code, has now completed a seven-phased exploration program over 535.5 hectares or 48 percent of the MPSA’s total. The results indicate a total resource tonnage of around 88.36 million dry metric tons of ore. This is likely to translate into a foreseeable export of one million tons of nickel per year either to China, Japan or Australia. “One of our objectives” says ALDAW Chairman Artiso Mandawa “is to inform the public opinion on the tragedy that MacroAsia open-pith nickel extraction will cause to our indigenous peoples, farmers and our precious forest. We hope that this will encourage potential partners not to invest in MacroAsia stocks”

The irony of Palawan is to have one of the best environmental laws in the country (the Strategic Environmental Plan), but the law itself is continuously being amended to favor large corporations. As a result, both Indigenous organizations and Palawan NGOs are now requesting the PCSD to stop any attempt of changing the definition of ‘core zones’ and other zones to allow mining activities in forested land. “It has already been established that some definitions such as those of ‘controlled use zones’ found in the Strategic Environmental Plan have been amended by the Council to please extractive industries” says Dr. Novellino. He also added “for instance, according to the SEP law, in Controlled Use Area – (the outer protective barrier that encircles the core and restricted use areas): ‘strictly controlled mining and logging, which is not for profit…may be allowed’. Recently the ‘not for profit’ specification has been eliminated, thus opening these zones to commercial extractive activities”.

Aside from MacroAsia, other mining companies are posing equally serious threats to the people of Brookes’ Point, in particular the Ipilan Nickel Corporation (INC) and the Lebach. The latter has been given both SEP clearance by the PCSD and ECC by DENR over a total area of 5,839 hectares and, again, without the consent of the local communities. The local inhabitants are now questioning the authenticity of the so called Certificates of Precondition issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), in favor of Lebach, respectively on October 5 and November 4 2005. On July 24, 2009, NCIP confirmed the issuances of such certificates, claiming that the company’s concession does not overlap with the indigenous ancestral domain. This claim, of course, has been contradicted by both indigenous peoples and farmers who have now decided to filing criminal and administrative cases against PCSD, DENR and NCIP. Even more worrying is the fact that large tracts of Lebach concession include cultivated land, as well as the farmers’ and indigenous peoples’ settlements. According to recent field information, the Lebach company is now harassing and intimidating local farmers by cutting their coconut palms. The final objective is to force peasants out of their land.

As usual, mining companies operations are being justified in the name economic development. However, a recent study by Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) - an alliance of mining-affected communities and their support groups –  have recently demonstrated that mining industry in the Philippines has failed to keep its promises of investments, employment and tax revenues. Jaybee Garganera, ATM National Coordinator reported, “The government barely achieved its targets and we have evidence to show this. For instance, the government had targeted at least $6 billion or Php 288 billion worth of investments for priority large-scale projects, but as September 2009, only $2.1 billion or Php 100.8 billion (35%) of its actual target came in as investments. He also added that from a target of Php 336 billion pesos as tax revenue, only Php 26 billion pesos was collected, or merely 8%”. He also noted that there were discrepancies on government records about the jobs generated by the mining industry. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported 158,00 jobs (including quarrying), while another Philippine official report pegged that number at only 13,462. “Granting that 158,000 jobs were created in 2008 that is only 66% of the promised jobs” said Garganera

In spite of all this, mining pressure on the Philippine Last Frontier is escalating, with DENR fast-tracking mining contracts at an alarming speed. For both indigenous organizations and NGOs, having to deal with the widespread corruption, and with the multitude of new and emerging mining companies, has become a very strenuous, uncertain and overwhelming task. “For this reason” says ALDAW Chairman Artiso Mandawa “we are now looking for a long-lasting and stable solution to this problem. Hence we are appealing to the newly elected president Noynoy Aquino to scrap the mining act and declare Palawan a mining-free province. The President has the power to reverse those policies that have brought much suffering to our people and to our precious environment".

What you can do

Sign a Petition to Stop Mining in Palawan!


And address your concerns to:

*Paje, Ramon J.P. DENR SECRETARY
osec@denr.gov.ph

*DENR Head Executive Assistant
hea@denr.gov.ph

* The Director of MINES AND GEOSCIENCE BUREAU (MGB)
mines_r4@yahoo.com
tenement.mgb.gov.ph@gmail.com
tenement@mgb.gov.ph

*MacroAsia Corporation
info@macroasiacorp.com

*PALAWAN COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (PCSD)
oed@pcsd.ph. AND c/o Mearl Hilario mearlhilario@yahoo.com
FAX: 0063 (048) 434-4234

*Honorable Governor of Palawan
Baham Mitra
abmitra2001@yahoo.com FAX: 0063 (048) 433-2948

For more information watch ALDAW videos
http://www.vimeo.com/aldawnetwork
http://www.youtube.com/user/ALDAWpalawan
http://hub.witness.org/en/users/aldaw-network

or contact the ALDAW Network (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch) aldawnetwork@gmail.com

Source: ALDAW Network

Palawan ‘UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve’ in the grip of Mining Companies?

Puerto Princesa - ALDAW. On the 7th of June (see IC release) 600 protesters from farmers and indigenous communities reached the capital city of Puerto Princesa on Palawan Island requesting the Provincial Government not to endorse the proposed mining plans of MacroAsia and Ipilan Nickel Corporation (INC). As a result of the negotiations taking place between the protesters’ delegation and policy makers in Puerto Princesa, the Provincial Government agreed that endorsement of both MacroAsia and INC should have required further investigation. However, that promise was not honoured and, after a few days, the Provincial Government gave his endorsement to MAC and INC to operate in one of the best conserved biocultural paradises found in the Philippines, and in South-East Asia as a whole.

The area given out to mining concession is also inhabited by traditional indigenous Palawan having limited contacts with the outside world. Moreover, the Gantong range and neighboring areas where MAC and INC intend to operate are within the area recently declared as Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation no. 1815.

Location of test pits and drilling holes within the mining concessions and
their overlap with mossy and old growth forest in Brook's Point Municipality

Both the MPSA areas of MacroAsia and INC are located in ecologically valuable areas which include watersheds, hunting/ agricultural grounds, extractive reserves of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) such as Almaciga (Agathis philippinensis) resin, on which upland indigenous communities depend for their daily subsistence. Also indigenous peoples’ sacred and worship sites are found within the mining tenements of these companies.

Representatives of ELAC (Environmental Legal Assistance Center) are now filing cases against government officials and their respective agencies for having endorsed MAC and INC without securing first the needed social acceptability requirements and in disregard of the Strategic Environmental Plan (Republic Act 7611).

Say ELAC Atty. Edward G. Lorenzo: “the sustainable management of the entire Province is, in fact, governed by the SEP law which prohibits any human activity in those areas that are classified as ‘core zones’ and that – very unfortunately - are now part of MAC and INC mining tenements”. A indigenous member of the indigenous community of Gieb (Barangay Maasin, Brooke’s Point Municipality) also claims: “they (mining personnel of MAC) just entered our land without asking permission, and they removed our rice plants to excavate big ditches in our agricultural fields and also up into the mountains, only few meters away from the Balgtik (Agathis Philippinensis) trees that we sell and from which we depend for our survival”. According to another member of the same community: “MacroAsia peoples have removed soil and trees also in those sacred forest that we call lylien and that are inhabited by powerful super-human beings (Taw Kawasa)”.

Between 12-16 July a geotagging field reconnaissance carried out by the ALDAW (Ancestral/Land Domain Watch) in collaboration with the Centre for Biocultural Diversity (CBCD) of the University of Kent has confirmed that MacroAsia test pits and drilling holes are found in ‘core zones’ (areas of maximum protection) around and even above 1,000 m ASL. Indigenous peoples trained on basic GPS and Geotagging technologies, with their own set of equipment divided into two groups to cover a large portion of the MAC and INC mining tenement area.

It appears that both MAC and INC have violated the basic tenets of the Strategic Environmental Plan (SEC) and also of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA Law), a national law protecting the interests of Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICC). Faced by this and similar accusations, the Provincial Government recently made a statement according to which MacroAsia and INC may not be allowed to operate in core zones, but their activities might be limited only to multiple/manipulative use areas. Again, ocular inspection and GPS data obtained by ALDAW and CBCD indicate the those portions of MacroAsia and INC mining concessions, which are outside the core zones, still include forested buffer zones which, obviously, do not fit by any means into the standard definition of ‘multiple/manipulative use zones’, where – according to the law – mining might be allowed. In fact, the mining claims of both MAC and INC are entirely located in ‘core zones’, ‘restricted zones’, agricultural and agroforestry areas that are subject to various cropping regimes. All these categories, according to the SEP law, should not be subject to any other form of large-scale extractive activity.

Also, lowland farmers are extremely concerned about the siltation of their wet-rice cultivation, as all irrigation water coming into their fields originates from the mountains where mining is supposed to take place. Members of academic institutions have suggested that: unless these precious water catchments are protected from mining operations, at least 50% of Brooke’s point sustainable agriculture, which requires irrigation, might be lost.

Says a spokesman of Alyansa Tigil Mina (the largest anti-mining advocacy group in the country) “Ironically enough the mining companies and the politicians who are endorsing them have also infringed the Philippine Mining Act which prohibits mining in old growth or virgin forest, proclaimed watershed forest reserves, wilderness area, and other areas of outstanding environmental value”. According to Atty. Mary Jean Feliciano of the ALDAW Network “in endorsing the mining exploration of both MAC and INC, the Sangguniang Bayan (Local Government of Brooke’s Point) has acted in contradiction with its own Municipal Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) for 2000-2010, in which mining was never considered as a development strategy and, in doing so, it has also bypassed the interests of local communities, as well as all forms of public consultations”.

Cornerstone of a CADT (Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title)

Undoubtedly, the endorsement by both Local and Provincial governments of the proposed operations of MAC and INC contravenes also those provisions contained in well know conventions [e.g. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that the Philippine Government has already signed. Says a member of the Palawan advocacy community: “When the Government itself infringes its own laws so bluntly, it means that the fundamentals of democracy are breaking apart and a new form of state-led terrorism is coming into being to deprive hundreds of farmers and indigenous peoples of their traditional, and thus legitimate sources of life, just to benefit a handful of greedy and irresponsible businessmen and their cronies”.

On July 30, 2010 the members of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) - a local government body in charge of the protection and sustainable management of the province - will meet to decide whether to issue a SEP clearance to the operations of MacroAsia and Ipilan Nickel Corporations. The future of one of the most pristine forests in the Philippines and the life of thousands of peoples who depend from it, is now in the hands of the Council.

Indigenous peoples and their networks, farmers, fisher folks, the Palawan NGO Network Inc (PNNI) and its associates, are uniting their effort to convince the PCSD to take a responsible decision which will ensure the sustainable future of Brook’s Point Municipality and of its biocultural diversity.


What you can do ...

Sign a Petition to Stop Mining in Palawan!


And address your concerns to:

Palawan Council for Sustainable Development
oed@pcsd.ph . and c/o Mearl Hilario mearlhilario@yahoo.com
FAX: 0063 (048) 434-4234

Honorable Governor of Palawan
Baham Mitra
abmitra2001@yahoo.com
FAX: 0063 (048) 433-2948

For more information watch ALDAW videos
http://www.vimeo.com/aldawnetwork
http://www.youtube.com/user/ALDAWpalawan
http://hub.witness.org/en/users/aldaw-network
or contact the ALDAW Network (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch) aldawnetwork@gmail.com  and Alyansa Tigil Mina (nc@alyansatigilmina.net / alyansatigilmina@gmail.com )

Participatory Video Validates Geo-Tagging Evidences on Mining Threats to Palawan Ecology and Indigenous Livelihoods

A field update from the ALDAW Network (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch)
May 2010

Between July and September 2009, a mission organized by the Philippines-based Ancestral Land/Domain Watch (ALDAW) and the Centre for Biocultural Diversity (CBCD) at the University of Kent demonstrated how the ecological balance and the survival of vulnerable indigenous communities on Palawan Island (a “Man and Biosphere Reserve” program of UNESCO) is being threatened by the ongoing mining rush. The mission’s actual ‘matching’ of collected GPS data to photographs shows that the Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA) of mining firms, such as MacroAsia and Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporations, overlap with precious watersheds and the so called “core zones” of maximum protection. During the mission indigenous communities were engaged in the making and editing of participatory videos.




Today the voices of these isolated Palawan communities are available through the following links:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ALDAWpalawan
http://vimeo.com/aldawnetwork

Counter-mapping in the Philippines: The Gantong Geo-Tagged Report

On July 2009, a mission led by the Philippine-based Ancestral Land/Domain Watch (ALDAW) and the Centre for Biocultural Diversity (CBCD) at the University of Kent traveled to the eastern side of the Gantong range, in Brooke’s Point Municipality, Province of Palawan. Palawan is part of the “Man and Biosphere Reserve” program of UNESCO and hosts 49 animals and 56 botanical species found in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The mission’s actual ‘matching’ of collected GPS data to photographs shows that the Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA) of two mining firms [MacroAsia and Celestial Nickel Mining and Exploration Corporation (CNMEC) now operated by Ipilan Nickel Corporation (INC)] overlap with precious watersheds endowed with numerous creeks, springs and waterfalls providing potable water to the local indigenous communities and lowland farmers. More importantly, under the ECAN Guidelines of the Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan (Republic Act 7611), such areas constitute the so called “core zones” of maximum protection where industrial extractive activities are not allowed.

At an altitude of about 500m ASL the mission reached indigenous settlements inhabited by very traditional Palawan having limited contacts with the outside. Their sustenance totally depends on the available forest resources, and it consists of a heterogeneous economy where sustainable swidden cultivation is integrated with foraging and the collection of non-timber forest products (NTFPs).


Overall, the mission moved from an elevation of a few meters ASL to an altitude of about 670m ASL, where one of the furthermost Palawan settlements is located. The mission’s GPS coordinates were obtained through the use of the JOBO GPS device being connected to the camera’s hot shoe. Positions were taken at intervals of several meters in order to reconstruct the mission’s full itinerary. The geo-tagged images were then loaded into ‘Photo GPS Editor’ and displayed on satellite Google map. All upland Palawan interviewed during the ALDAW/CBCD mission have declared that they have never been consulted about the entrance of mining companies in their traditional territories.


According to indigenous representatives, the Palawan branch of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) – the government body mandated to ‘protect and promote the interest and well-being of cultural communities’ – is now siding with the mining companies. It is hoped that the ALDAW/CBCD Gantong geo-tagged report will facilitate the circulation of information, at both the national and international levels, on the threats faced by ‘irresponsible mining’ in the Philippines’ “last frontier”. An international campaign to support indigenous Palawan claims to their ancestral land has also been initiated by Survival International.

Source: The ALDAW NETWORK

The ALDAW NETWORK (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch) is an advocacy-campaign network of Indigenous Peoples jointly constituted by NATRIPAL (United Tribes of Palawan) and BANGSA PALAWAN PHILIPPINES (Indigenous Alliance for Equity and Wellbeing) on August 2009.