Lumads meet in Kitanglad for 4th State of the Indigenous Peoples’ Address (SIPA)

DAVAO CITY  (MindaNews/24 July) – An estimated 100 Lumads (indigenous peoples) from various parts of the country will gather at the foot for Mt. Kitanglad in Bukidnon for the fourth State of the Indigenous Peoples’ Address (SIPA)  in time for President Benigno Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 26.

The SIPA will begin at 1 p.m. on Monday and will end on the 29th of July.

Erwin Quinones, campaigns paralegal of Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan (LRC-KsK), told MindaNews that the IP representatives will be coming “from  areas affected by development aggression.”

He said this includes encroachment of mining, plantations and hydro-power plants into the ancestral domains of the indigenous peoples. [read more]

Lumads say Mining Act has only worsened their lot

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 March) — Fourteen years after it was signed into law, the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 or Republic Act 7942 has failed to bring development to the indigenous communities, a lumad
leader today said.

Some 200 Lumads (indigenous peoples) today expressed their dismay over RA 7942 by staging a protest action in front of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) here and called for the scrapping of the law
which they said has only worsened their living condition. Read More »

Davao Villagers Battle World’s Largest Mining Company

MATI CITY, Davao Oriental – Waves lap up the shallow shores of Sitio Wagon in Barangay (village) Macambol as fishermen and their families work and live off the bountiful waters of Pujada Bay.

The noise of the waves mixes with that of an electric plainer being used to shape the belly of a new banca – a simple fishing boat — under the shade of some coconut trees. A much bigger boat which can carry more than a ton of fish approaches the shore after having spent days, possibly even weeks at sea. Read More »