Environment

Rapu-rapu reopening a go-signal for more destructive mining investments — Ibon

MANILA — In the wake of the reopening of the controversial Rapu-Rapu polymetallic mine in Albay last February, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources recently announced that investments in the mining sector are expected to hit $348 million this year. But whatever benefits such investments supposedly bring would be cancelled out by the severe social and environmental costs of large-scale mining, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

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Aussie troops, mining firms not welcome in Mindanao: group

Southern Philippines a hotspot for foreign war games and giant mining projects

MANILA — The presence of Australian military troops and mining companies in the Philippines, which President Gloria Arroyo is literally begging for in her state visits, will only aggravate the volatile peace and order situation in the country particularly in Mindanao, environmental activists from Kalikasan Peoples Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) warned today.
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Group to rehabilitate Sarangani mangrove forest

SARANGANI — Because of the extensive media coverage on May 3?s mangrove planting activity in Sitio Asnalang, Maasim, Sarangani Province, several organizations signified interest in engaging in a similar project. And so on May 22, 2007, people from different faiths converged in the area to help rehabilitate its mangrove forest.
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Philippines wooing grave trouble with Australian mining deals, activists say

MANILA, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stubbornly refuses to heed the grim warnings left by the environmental disaster caused by Australian-owned Lafayette Mining in Rapu-Rapu island, Albay and is even courting more danger by trying to seal a multi-billion dollar deal with BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company whose main headquarters is located in Melbourne, environmental activist organization Kalikasan Peoples Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) said today.
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Philippines Senate vows drop objection to JPEPA if Japan issues protocol vs toxic waste

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino ?Nene? Q. Pimentel,
Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said that the Japan-Philippines
Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) will have a
good chance of being ratified by the Senate if Tokyo
will categorically declare that it will not allow the
export or transfer of toxic industrial waste to the
Philippines.
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