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 Marcopper Mining Corporation operated in Marinduque. Thirty years of large-scale mining and two decades of ignoring to own up to their mistakes or “criminal negligence” during the 1996 mining disaster, the affected community members still suffer from its aftermath. From the previously pristine water of Calancan Bay, to the mountainous headwater of Mogpog, down to the historic Boac River, the ecological damage Marcopper has caused is beyond repair. People who used to catch fish, shrimps, and crabs in the rivers no longer see anything that has life in these bodies of water.
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)…