Mining Act | 20 years of plunder, destruction and pollution must end

http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/03/03/mining-act-20-destruction-and-pollution-must-years-of-plunder-end/

Philippine Mining Act, or Republic Act 7942 - the government surrendered the countrys welfare and interest
following the demand of foreign investors
After the passing of the Mining Act of 1995, Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements were granted to
Australian mining corporations Climax-Arimco, now known as OceanaGold, and Western Mining
Corporation, which later changed its name to SMI-Xstrata
These lands were inhabited by Bugkalot, Igorot, Blaan, and Tiboli indigenous groups in the provinces of
Nueva Vizcaya, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, and Davao del Sur
Mining Act has violated the indigenous peoples right to self-determination, as they have become victims of
legal land-grabbing and extensive destruction of livelihood and homes.
Several environmental investigation missions conducted in Nueva Vizcaya, where mining operations began
as soon as the law was passed in 1995, showed serious pollution and destruction of the environment and
water systems.
In Mindanao, communities who have been resisting the SMI-Xstrata have been subjected to militarization
and a number of indigenous peoples activists have been killed by soldiers.
billions worth of minerals mined in the Philippines are exported to countries such as the USA, Australia,
Canada, UK, China, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia. These are resources meant for the industrialization of our
country and for the benefit of most Filipinos
Kalikasan said 66 anti-mining activists have been killed under the Aquino administration. Of these, 50 were
indigenous peoples, including six women and six children, who were slain by the military and paramilitary
groups.
The violation of human rights of indigenous peoples worsened as a result of mining and militarization, said
Malayao.
Malayao said military operations, conducted by soldiers along with paramilitary men recruited among
indigenous peoples, have pushed thousands of indigenous peoples repeatedly in areas targeted for mining
in Mindanao, such Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur, Compostela Valley, and Bukidnon.

Mining: Militarization and Injustice [by RMP, Philippines]

http://www.asianpeasant.org/content/mining-militarization-and-injustice-rmp-philippines

Mining activities are usually located in rural and mountainous areas and truly affect farmlands, rivers and
shorelines, where the poor resides namely: the farmers, indigenous peoples and fisher folks.
Conversations with people in the communities, especially with the indigenous tribe e.g. (last May where I
joined the Fact-Finding Mission) that their river was the source of life for them.
They had a spring, a water source which to them was sacred, embodied their life as a people, a place
where their children play, wash and bathe, the fish swim, a place of celebration and delight in the abundance
of the earth. Sad to say the river is already polluted, with chemicals deposited into the once healthy and
vibrant river.
There had been thousands of cases of forcible evacuation, since Pnoy took oath as President,
indiscriminate firing, threats and intimidation and other human rights violations that happened in the course
of intense military operations.
It is believed to be the governments practice of clearing up the areas for, and silencing the peoples
opposition against, large-scale corporate mining operations and the construction of mega-dam project for
the consumption of foreign owned corporations.

Digging into the politics of gender in the past: The aswang Part 1
http://www.nancycudis.com/2015/10/politics-of-gender-past-aswang.html

Meez suggests in her essay, The Viscera-Sucker and the Politics of Gender, that the powerful
indigenous female shamans in the Philippines, or thebabaylanes, were associated with a horrific symbolic
form that is the aswang (or asuang), particularly the female viscera-sucker kind.

Meezs interpretation on a historical perspective suggests that the association between the powerful
woman and the cannibalistic creature was a result of the colonial encounter that brought over Spanish
priests with their zealous dedication for their mission to stamp out indigenous religions throughout the
archipelago.
Meez points out that when viewed historically, the viscera-sucker represents a process of disenfranchising
the most powerful Filipino women and a politics of gender that has deep roots in the Spanish conquest of
thePhilippines.
As the religious leader, she presided over all major ceremonies, determined th e time and place for a
headhunting raid, and threw the first spear to commence the attach. Her magical powers, like the
headhunters heroic prowess, attracted many lovers whose fate she directed in the headhunt. She
exemplified the sexual freedom of native women, which the missionaries regularly denounced.
Spanish friars viewed the babaylanes as their religious rivals and as females whose sexual powers, in their
view, needed to be subjugated under male authoritySpanish and native.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll 14: The Invasion (2012) ni Chito Roo
https://edgarsamar.com/2013/01/03/shake-rattle-and-roll-14-the-invasion-2012-ni-chito-rono/

The second episode, Lost Command, is clearly a critique of militarization; here we have militarization as
horror.

The narrative inspiration is most likely a product of the urban legend that aswang stories were propagated
by the military in order to demonize the insurgents.