ATM Statement re OGPI FTAA renewal
- Details
- Category: Pacific Rim/OceanaGold
- Published: Thursday, 26 September 2019 14:35
PRESS RELEASE : ATM
We are greatly disappointed with this development. ATM believes that OceanaGold Philippines, Inc. (OGPI) had failed to substantially comply with the requirements of a renewal for FTAA.
It did not inform the local governments about its application and has not secured the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the affected indigenous peoples.
This interim renewal smells tragically as an attempt of DENR to circumvent the already vague and anti-poor Mining Act of 1995.
The DENR has made a mistake in implementing the minimum technical requirements for an FTAA renewal. The requirements for FTAA renewal should have included a new environmental impact assessment (EIA) and comprehensive proof that it has complied with the findings and recommendations of the Mine Audit in 2016 ordered by former DENR Sec. Gina Lopez. A new hydrology impact study should have also been submitted by OGPI to dispel the claims of the LGU that te water supply has been severely reduced due to mining operations in the area.
KASIBU, Nueva Vizcaya — Ronald Pumihic sat on a tent with his daughter on his lap as he watched the barangay police inspect a van entering their community. In some days, Pumihic himself would join a team manning the checkpoint. They bar the entry of supplies for Oceanagold, an Australian-Canadian gold mining company, that he, together with the rest of the community, desperately wants out.
"Towards curbing OceanaGold’s dirty operations in El Salvador and the Philippines, efforts of people’s organisations, communities, environmental advocates as well as international civil society continue to be essential. Community-level organisations and groups play an essential role in voicing out resistance. In Cabanas in El Salvador, the grassroots media group Radio Victoria has been broadcasting about people’s issues – including the destructive impacts of big mining, as well as the Pacific Rim/OceanaGold ISDS case. Radio Victoria staff have received death threats as a result of their work. Broader movements such as the National Roundtable Against Metallic Mining in El Salvador (also known as La Mesa) are also active to protect water rights and to counter corporate mining in the country. Salvadoran campaigns continue towards demanding justice for murdered environment defenders and activists. In the Philippines, community organisations include the Samahang Pangkarapatan ng Katutubong Magsasaka at Manggagawa, Inc. (SAPAKKMMI, Rights Organisation of Indigenous Farmers and Workers) and the Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Novo-Vizcayanos para sa Kalikasan (ANNVIK, Alliance of United Novo-Vizcayanos for the Environment). They are fundamental in building resistance: in 2016, a communityled barricade through SAPAKKMMI and DESAMA (Didipio Earth Savers Multi-Purpose Association) led OceanaGold to pull out its expansive drilling operations and equipment in the area of Sitio Camgat in Didipio.