Reading From the Heart by Gina Lopez column entitled "A plea for our motherland" from last week's Sunday Lifestyle of The Philippine Star, dated February 27, 2011 is an eye opener for most of us. At least for me, because I haven't been updated on the current news from the newspaper, television or from the internet upon weeks now. (click on link to read the article -- http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=661134&publicationSubCategoryId=86)
The issue here is that mining is the current problem which Palawan is facing today; That the Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR) issued an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) to mine in the area of Brooke's Point, Mt. Matalingahan, Palawan, which is a key biodiversity site; The Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) rezoned about 90% of 2,400 hectares, allowing mining in the said area.
Upon googling other key words, I also learned from the article entitled, Miners Turn to Palawan: The Last Frontier by Kabataan Ngayon (click on link at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=417874575115) states that local officials and politicians who are endorsers of mining companies greatly outnumber those who are against mining activities; That the previous administration granted Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) to a Canadian mining company for a large-scale mining operation in another biodiversity site, the Victoria-Anepahan range; Other areas with mining applications mentioned are Bataraza, Narra and Arbolan; That there are 354 mining applications for the whole of Palawan.
The rape, destruction and exploitation of our natural resources has been happening since time in memorial. Evidences of illegal logging have been posted in youtube in areas all over the Philippines, which I have featured in my blog from previous posts. I am not aware if the present government is taking any actions in resolving such problems, but a "10 million signature campaign to stop mining in Palawan" was launched last February 3, 2011 by the Save Palawan Movement, which is being spearheaded by ABS-CBN Foundation Managing Director Gina Lopez after the killing of Dr. Gerardo "Dr. Gerry" Ortega (environmentalist, broadcaster, civic leader) last January 2011.
The website, No To Mining In Palawan (http://www.intellithink.com.ph/wordpress/) is where you can register and be counted. This is the least we can contribute to help save Palawan from destruction. We can also download the campaign signature forms under the same link and forward your petitions to ABS-CBN Foundation, Mo. Ignacia cor. E. Lopez Drive, Brgy. South Triangle, Diliman, Quezon City through JRS free of charge.
The issue here is that mining is the current problem which Palawan is facing today; That the Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR) issued an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) to mine in the area of Brooke's Point, Mt. Matalingahan, Palawan, which is a key biodiversity site; The Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) rezoned about 90% of 2,400 hectares, allowing mining in the said area.
Upon googling other key words, I also learned from the article entitled, Miners Turn to Palawan: The Last Frontier by Kabataan Ngayon (click on link at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=417874575115) states that local officials and politicians who are endorsers of mining companies greatly outnumber those who are against mining activities; That the previous administration granted Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) to a Canadian mining company for a large-scale mining operation in another biodiversity site, the Victoria-Anepahan range; Other areas with mining applications mentioned are Bataraza, Narra and Arbolan; That there are 354 mining applications for the whole of Palawan.
The rape, destruction and exploitation of our natural resources has been happening since time in memorial. Evidences of illegal logging have been posted in youtube in areas all over the Philippines, which I have featured in my blog from previous posts. I am not aware if the present government is taking any actions in resolving such problems, but a "10 million signature campaign to stop mining in Palawan" was launched last February 3, 2011 by the Save Palawan Movement, which is being spearheaded by ABS-CBN Foundation Managing Director Gina Lopez after the killing of Dr. Gerardo "Dr. Gerry" Ortega (environmentalist, broadcaster, civic leader) last January 2011.
The website, No To Mining In Palawan (http://www.intellithink.com.ph/wordpress/) is where you can register and be counted. This is the least we can contribute to help save Palawan from destruction. We can also download the campaign signature forms under the same link and forward your petitions to ABS-CBN Foundation, Mo. Ignacia cor. E. Lopez Drive, Brgy. South Triangle, Diliman, Quezon City through JRS free of charge.
Thank you for posting about this and also for the link.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to have stumbled upon a blogger who is blogging about Philippine trees. I enjoy reading your posts. It is really high-time we Filipinos take action against abuse of trees and the environment.
ReplyDeleteMabuhay at magandang araw.
Hi, Bom! I guess what moved me most was the way Ms. Gina Lopez wrote the column. It was like seeing and feeling what she was experiencing.
ReplyDeleteI was actually going to focus writing about this inspirational article and how she made it a challenge for her readers as she wrote,
"If you read this column -- and then just flip to another page -- then you are guilty of the very attitude that is stopping this country from going forward. We can do something about it if we bond together. We can't have a commercial log ban -- and then allow mining at the same time. We can't push for tourism and destroy whatever is beautiful in the country.
We cannot and must not allow mining in key biodiversity areas. And politicians should stop rezoning. Just stop it. A forest is a forest is a forest. Stop redefining land. It's not honest. At all."
But as I discover and learn more about Dr. Gerry, NO TO MINING IN PALAWAN, the 10 million signature campaign to stop mining in Palawan, the politicians, mining companies and key persons involved.......I thought of informing my readers what sources I have discovered and letting you all react and decide for yourselves and not be influenced by the way how I would interpret things.
I highly recommend that everyone read from the links enumerated above.
My apologies as I can't seem to figure out how to make these links active.
[a href="http://link"]text about link or click here{/a] then replace the [ and ] with < and >
ReplyDeleteI hope that helps you.
Also I would like to link to this post of yours if that is okay. Maybe we can encourage more people to sign the petition.
- Miss N, thank you! I agree with you.
ReplyDelete- Bom, hindi ko masundan instructions mo. Sa "edit html" per blog ba ako dapat pumunta para mag "tweak"? Wala akong nakita na "/a" or "[and]"......Please do so in linking this post. I appreciate it. Thanks!
I don't use blogspot but yes, you can go to edit html.
ReplyDeleteTry ko dito ha. If you want to link to my blog you would put
Click here to go to Plant Chaser
[a href="http://www.plantchaser.com">Click here to go to Plant Chaser< and then change the ] at the end to >
Trees are our last hope. Palawan is indeed one of the last frontiers but I wonder how much the local government is earning out of the mining activities which by the way cannot and will not thrive to continue without the local officials favoring it one way or another. - Ana
ReplyDeleteAna, for all we know, baka nga yang mga local officials na yan ang may-ari ng ibang mining at illegal logging companies. Sigurado, proprotektahan at papaburan nila ang sarili nilang mga motibo para sa pansarili nilang kapakanan........Ang hindi nila naiisip ay unti-unti nilang pinapatay ang mga kababayan, kabuhayan at kapaligiran nila. Pag naubos na lahat, tsaka na lang magsisisihan kung bakit pinabayaan mangyari.
ReplyDeleteAt gaya ng mga nagdaang mga trahedya ng matitinding bagyo, pag-baha, landslide, earthquake at tsunami na pag-daan sa isang lugar, maglalaho na lahat at hindi inaalintana kung mayaman ka o mahirap. Maglalaho na lahat ng pinundar mo at titingin ka na lang sa kawalan.