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RP-Australia defense pact meant to ensure protection Aussie mining operations, militant groups say

Two militant groups on Wednesday said the rabid intention of the Australian government to clinch a Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa) with the Philippines was meant to ensure protection to Australian mining operations all over the country, particularly in Mindanao.

The left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) and its staunch ally, the environmental activist group Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) in separate statements argued that Australia wants both direct and indirect involvement in the military affairs of the country to make sure their mining operations across the country are protected by strong and highly equipped joint Filipino-Australian military force.

“This is a clear case of political and military intervention, and economic and environmental sabotage rolled into one,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

“Military and anti-terrorism exercises and actual combat operations will be launched by Filipino and Australian military forces in areas where Australian mining TNCs are operating. This is the real story behind this anti-people defense pact,” Hicap added.

Hicap said his group is going to challenge the ratification of the defense agreement between the Philippine and Australian government before the Philippine Senate at the opening of the 14th session of Congress in July 23.

“A people’s petition calling for the junking of the RP-Australia defense will be submitted to the new Senate leadership on the opening day of Congress. We will make it hard for the Australian bred fascists and mining monopolists and their local cohorts in the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to pass their sinister agenda,” the Pamalakaya leader added.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap said it would lobby to the opposition dominated Senate the rejection of RP-Australia defense pact, as well as the rejection of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

The fisherfolk group is counting on the support of incoming senators Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero and Alan Peter Cayetano to lead the pack of lawmakers that would oppose the Japanese and Australian invasion of the country under these fresh agreements.

For his part, Kalikasan-PNE national coordinator Clemente Bautista said more Australian mining companies like BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining corporation based in Melbourne is aiming for a multi-million dollar nickel project in Pujada Peninsula, Davao Oriental province in partnership with local mining firms Hallmark Mining Corp. and AustraAsia Link Mining Corp.
Bautista said aside from BHP Billiton, other Australian mining companies like Medusa Mining in Eastern Mindanao, Red 5 in Siana in Surigao del Norte, Indophil in South Cotabato, and Climax-Arimco in Surigao del Norte want to conquer Mindanao and promote mining disaster like the Lafayette toxic spill in October 2005.

Kalikasan-PNE noted the country’s past experiences with Australian Mining firms. Both groups said the Tinggians in the uplands of Abra will not hesitate to declare war on Australian mining firm Newcrest Exploration if it continued with its mining exploration on their ancestral lands.


The group said in Cabarruguis in Quirino province in 1996 the Australian Mining Company (ARIMCO) stopped operating after the fatal shooting of its Canadian consultant Colin Spence. Last year, the controversial Lafayette mine spills also drew great opposition and condemnation from the local, national, and international communities," the group said.

"Overseas operations of many Australian mining companies have actually contributed to conflict and instability, human rights violations, and environmental degradation in local communities throughout Indonesia, Papua new Guinea, and the Philippines. Local communities are sure to stand up in arms against these huge mining projects whch threaten their ancestral lands, ecosystems, livelihoods, and ways of life," Kalikasan-PNE explained. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 04:20 | link | comments (1) |

Legarda, other winning GO senators pressed to reject Japan-RP trade pact

Opponents of the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) started their lobby work today by asking incoming senator Loren Legarda and other winning senatorial candidates of the Genuine Opposition to reject the free trade pact between the two countries.

In a press statement, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap appealed to Legarda and incoming senators Francis Joseph Escudero, Manuel Villar and Alan Peter Cayetano to lead the sending of “death sentence” to JPEPA, which the group described as the second Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

“In the name of national interest, we ask Senators Legarda, Escudero, Villar and Cayetano to rally the new senate against the one-sided trade agreement,” Hicap said.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap made the appeal after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her visit to Japan last week, assured the Japanese government that the Philippine Senate will ratify JPEPA, despite the strong opposition of various non-government organizations and cause-oriented groups.

The militant fisherfolk leader said JPEPA is not only about the dumping of toxic wastes in the Philippines, adding that even if the Japanese government remove the provision on the exportation of its wastes, the agreement is still disastrous to local economy and environment.

“The real intention of Japan, the world’s second global economic bully and exploiter is to take advantage of the country’s natural resources and cheap labor and overstretch the domestic market as dumping ground for Japan’s surplus products,” Hicap said.

Pamalakaya said under JPEPA, Japan will mobilize its 8,000-metric ton fishing vessels to catch tuna in the Philippines.

The group said under Article 28, Section 3 of the agreement, the Philippine government will allow Japan to explore the country’s rich tuna resources particularly in Celebes Sea, Moro Gulf and other fishing areas known for their rich tuna deposits.

An initial study made by Pamalakaya said more than 180,000 fish workers in the tuna industry in South Cotabato, Sarangani, General Santos City and Davao will be affected by the entry of Japanese “tuna factory ships” in the country if JPEPA will be implemented.

Likewise, Pamalakaya said JPEPA will pave way for the entry Japanese substandard food, including Mercury infested fish in the country.





The militant group said in the early 70s, over 100 Japanese either died or became very ill because of their exposure to methyl Mercury emanating from local industrial discharge that poisoned the nearby fishing grounds in Minimata, Japan.

Just recently, Pamalakaya said, China had tightened the quarantine of food imported from Japan after Chinese authorities found out that 30 batches of imported food from Japan failed to meet China’s quality rules on imported products.

Pamalakaya said Chinese food authorities found excessive sorbic acid found in Japanese fish sausages, which was 17 times higher than the 1.3g/kg allowed by Chinese sanitation authorities. In East China’s Shandong province, some frozen octopus and fish imported from Japan were found to contain dangerous bacteria that may cause meningitis and blood poisoning.

Pamalakaya said in Guangdong, South China, potato powder imported from Japan contained excessive sulfur dioxide while the cadmium content of some frozen oysters was five times higher than the permissible upper limit. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 04:18 | link | comments |

Militants feel vindicated with Defensor’s “loss” in Senate race

Leaders of the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Monday claimed success over their electoral advocacy to frustrate the senatorial bid of Team Unity candidate Michael Defensor, former secretary of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NHA).

“It was a resounding success. A real people power at the electoral box-office,” said Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap, whose organization was one of the advocacy groups that called for the rejection of the former DENR secretary in the senatorial race as early as December last year.

“The poor performance of Defensor in the May 14 national elections merely confirmed the collective sentiment of the Filipino people on the former DENR Secretary. That he is no brother to them and he is certified enemy of the environment,” Hicap added.

The militant leader said in order to ensure Defensor’s defeat, all electoral watchdogs should pay attention to Oplan Mercury Rising, a cheating plan of the administration that seeks to increase votes for Defensor and two other administration candidates and keep a tight watch on ongoing special elections in Lanao provinces and work out for the nullification of the results in Maguindanao.

Defensor, as former chief of the environment and natural resources agency had been in constant fight with the Pamalakaya fisherfolk group over a number of issues like the massive logging in Quezon province that caused massive landslides and death of over 1,000 farmers and fishermen in towns of Gen. Nakar, Infanta and Real in 2003, the Navotas landfill in Obando Bulacan, the Lafayette toxic spill in Rapu-Rapu, Albay and the offshore gas and oil exploration in Tañon Strait separating the island provinces of Cebu and Negros Oriental.

Last year, Pamalakaya filed an anti-graft complaint against Defensor before the Office of the Ombudsman for allowing the offshore mining in Cebu and Negros Oriental, as well as his mishandling of the Lafayette toxic spill and the issuance of over 4,000 environmental compliance of certificates to big business groups without public consultation and approval.

The former DENR secretary likewise engaged Pamalakaya in a word war, when Defensor accused Pamalakaya members in General Nakar of helping illegal loggers tow their illegally cut logs in Umiray river also in 2003.

Defensor, one the most favored senatorial candidates of Malacañang in the May 14, 2007 elections is currently in 15th place in the latest tally of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) with 8,351,543 votes a little over 700,000 votes short of the 12th placer currently occupied by another administration candidate Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri.

The ex-DENR chief is also in 15th place in the latest tally conducted by the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) with 7,492,891 or approximately 900,000 votes short to currently no.12 placer Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III of the Genuine Opposition.

“We are happy to witness the overwhelming rejection of Defensor. Our small efforts contributed to the political downfall of this ambitious politician who sacrificed the people’s environment and welfare at the altar of transnational mining corporations and big business interests,” Pamalakaya’s Hicap added. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:44 | link | comments |

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