Environment

Davao City Hall Slammed for ‘Sell-Out,’ ‘Anti-People’ Report on Aerial-Spray Ban

The environment group Interface Development Interventions Inc. has criticized City Hall’s recommendations on aerial spraying, calling it a sellout. Below is the group’s statement:


An environmental NGO criticized the report of Eng. Luis Jacinto, city planning coordinator, on the controversial proposal to ban aerial spraying in Davao City branding it as a ?sell-out that intentionally omitted glaring facts to come up with recommendations tailored to favor only banana corporations.?

(more…)

Continue ReadingDavao City Hall Slammed for ‘Sell-Out,’ ‘Anti-People’ Report on Aerial-Spray Ban

Protect Diwalwal’s Small Miners from Foreign Firms, Pimentel Urges Gov’t

Mindanaoan senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. today warned the Arroyo government not to neglect the rights of small-scale miners as the government opens the Diwalwal gold-rush site to big mining companies, among them foreign-owned.

Pimentel said small-scale miners ?want an assurance that their means of livelihood and their welfare will be protected with the entry of mining firms and their foreign partners.?

(more…)

Continue ReadingProtect Diwalwal’s Small Miners from Foreign Firms, Pimentel Urges Gov’t

The Ritual at Tudaya Falls

Click on image to view slideshow
Click on the image to view Cheryll D. Fiel’s pictures of the ritual.

A giant power company plans to build a hydroelectric plant in Tudaya, a village in Davao del Sur. Proponents of the project said the plant would “not only offer solution to the power crisis in the offing, but at the same time provide livelihood opportunities and other benefits to the communities.” The Lumads in the area, however, are up in arms, claiming that the plant would desecrate Tudaya Falls, which is their worship ground, and destroy their way of life. They also accuse Hedcor, the power company, of misleading members of the tribe. They expressed their opposition to the project by holding a sacred ritual last week. Davao Today?s Cheryll D. Fiel was there.

(more…)

Continue ReadingThe Ritual at Tudaya Falls