UNITY STATEMENT

We, the environmentally concerned Filipino citizens, unite to solidify our sporadic struggles and establish a nationwide campaign to stop all destructive mining activities in the entire Philippines, once and for all. No less than the Philippine Constitution provides in Art. II, Sec. 16 that every Filipino has the right to a balanced and healthful ecology a provision that the Supreme Court held in Opposa v. Factoran (1993) as a selfexecutory one, which means that the State is automatically mandated to protect, uphold and promote this right. However, the State, through the government, has not been fulfilling this mandate. In 1995, the Congress enacted The Mining Act that aimed to address the crisis in the mining industry in the 1990s by: allowing 40% foreign equity; allowing entry of 100% foreign-owned mining corporations for large-scale mining operations; granting foreign investors four to six years of income tax holiday; and, reducing the excise tax from 5% to 2%. Thereafter, mining companies, mostly foreign, have flocked into the country promising "economic growth" and "development" but very unfortunately, they have brought disasters, instead. From 2000 to 2009, the average contribution of the mining industry to the countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is merely 0.91%; in 2011, it insignificantly contributed 1.2% to our GDP. Meanwhile, its contribution to the countrys employment rate is only 0.376% at the average from 2000 to 2009. Moreover, poverty incidence in the mining sector has worsened from 27.84% in 1988 to 48.71% in 2009 higher than the poverty incidence in the unemployed sector. These realities are evidently contrary to the promise of the mining corporations and the government that allowing them to dig our lands will significantly contribute to our countrys economic growth, provide more jobs and alleviate poverty. On the other side, we have seen how they have denuded our forests such as that in Toledo City, Cebu which caused flashfloods and landslides in the past that resulted to thousands of fatalities. We remember how their irresponsible operations have killed our rivers such as the Boac River after the Marcopper Mining Tragedy in Marinduque. We have witnessed how they have displaced our indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands such as the B'laans, Subanens and Manobos in Mindanao, as well as, how they employed our military forces and some paramilitary groups to harass, kill and silence those who oppose them like what they did to Dr. Gerry Ortega in Palawan. We have seen how they treat their employees badly and inhumanely such as the case of Wilkie Duran Monte in Siquijor. We also have noted how they have destroyed our people's livelihood such as the contamination of the irrigation waters which destroyed the ricefield in Tubay, Agusan del Norte. Yet, the worst thing is when we have witnessed how futile the government is in addressing these issues; in fact, we have seen them behind these corporations rather than defending our people and our patrimony. Thus, we exclaim: Enough is enough! We, the sovereign Filipino people, now stand united, firm and resolute to call on the Aquino Administration to fulfill its constitutional mandate by heeding to our following demands: 1. Order moratorium on existing mining operations and refrain from entertaining and approving applications for mining permits; 2. Conduct a comprehensive audit of our natural resources; 3. Order the mining operators to pay for damages and rehabilitate, if possible, what they have destroyed; 4. Prosecute those who are responsible of the harassment and/or murder of anti-mining advocates and all other victims in the struggle against mining; 5. Demilitarize communities near the mining sites; 6. Review the mining policies, including The Mining Act of 1995, with the involvement of the people.

We shall reclaim what is justly ours and utilize them sustainably for the common good. We shall fight not just for ourselves but for the lives of the generations to come, as well. We shall fight this battle until the end.

NO to destructive mining! DEFEND our patrimony! PROTECT our people and our environment! YES to Sustainable Development!

Signed: Task Force Batok Mina