CALAPAN CITY, Philippines : Environmental activists will go on hunger strike Nov. 17 in protest over a Norwegian company's proposed nickel mines on Mindoro island.They want the company, Intex Resources, stripped of an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the DENR national headquarters in Quezon City, northeast of Manila, on Nov. 16 to support the 25 hunger strikers who include two priests and 16 indigenous Mangyan people.

"We are determined to protect our ecology and defend our province from destructive mining," one of the hunger strikers, Father Edwin Gariguez of the Alliance Against Mining (ALAMIN), told UCA News.

DENR Secretary Joselito Atienza, Jr., gave Intex the green light on Oct. 14 when he issued an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) saying the company had complied with all environmental requirements.

According to the DENR, Intex had applied for a mining site of 9,720 hectares but later requested a larger area. The ECC issued covers about 11,200 hectares in Mindoro Oriental and Mindoro Occidental provinces where Intex plans to have the nickel mines up and running by 2011.

It expects to extract 100 to 120 million tons of ore over 15 to 20 years.

The company says that it will rehabilitate the land after it is finished and its community support programs include installations for safe drinking water, improved sanitary systems as well as free medical services for the locals.

But local and provincial politicians told UCA News the ECC is "illegal" because there is a moratorium on mining in Oriental Mindoro province.

Opponents claim the nickel deposits lie within the Mangyan communities' ancestral lands and the mines will encroach on the Mag-asawang Tubig watershed, which services more than 40,000 hectares of rice farming land.

The claim was backed up by British environmental experts Robert Goodland and Clive Wicks who studied Intex and five other cases during a mission to the country last year. Their probe concluded with the book "Philippines: Mining or Food?", launched in Manila on Feb. 4.

Bishop Warlito Cajandig of Calapan expressed support for a peaceful hunger strike. He claims that Intex "has earlier been irresponsible."

"There cannot be responsible mining in a developing country like the Philippines where corruption is high," the bishop said.

The DENR revoked the mining concession in July 2001 on the grounds it would encroach on critical watersheds, a position affirmed by Congress.

Despite that, Atienza's office later gave the environmental all-clear. The DENR secretary said he was willing to talk with groups opposed to large-scale mining.

Intex spokesperson Attorney Ben delos Reyes said there had been a public hearing at which protestors failed to provide evidence to support their objections.

Courtesy : UCAN