Balita Ngayon sa Sentro ng Pilipinas
Lumagda sa kasunduan para sa pagpapatupad ng Province-Led Agriculture and Fishery Extension System (PAFES) ang Department of Agriculture at Marinduque provincial government, kamakailan.
Five decades have passed since the Marcopper Mining Corporation operated in Marinduque. Thirty years of large-scale mining and two decades of ignoring to own up to Marcopper’s “criminal negligence,” the Marinduque residents still suffer from its aftermath. From the previously pristine waters of Calancan to the mountainous headwater of Mogpog, down to the historic Boac river, Marcopper started a grave ecological concern that would haunt the local population to this day.
Many residents of Marinduque province still live in fear, almost 23 years after the area was hit by one of the largest mining disasters in the country
The House Committee on Natural Resources has endorsed for plenary approval a bill declaring the province of Marinduque a mining-free zone.
Anti-big-scale mining group Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) is urging the government to replace Republic Act 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 with a law that is “pro-Filipino and pro-environment”. ATM claimed the present law has paved the way for plunder of the country’s mineral wealth, as well as mining-related environmental destruction. These are on top of adverse health impacts, displacement of people, and human rights abuses across the country, according to ATM national coordinator Jaybee Gerganera. “Our country didn’t benefit from RA 7942,” he said Monday (March 5)…