DESPITE the issuance of Executive Order (EO) 79, SOS-Yamang Bayan Network still believes that it is only a piecemeal solution to the flaws in Republic Act 7942, also known as the Mining Act of 1995.
EO 79, issued by President Benigno Aquino III last 2011, was only the response of the administration to the address the current mining issues and the network further explains that the pronouncement of the government to come up with a new mining fiscal regime only responds to the financial or economic side of the industry, when what is needed is a paradigm shift.
“The current mining law has been used as a legal argument for different forms of injustices against mining-affected communities and institutionalizing the control of large corporations of our natural resources. There’s no other time to pass the alternative minerals management bill but NOW. We hope this new Congress realized that the issue of mining is a matter of life and death for a lot of rural and indigenous communities”, Judy Pasimio, coordinator of Purple Action for Indigenous Women Rights, explained.
A few days before President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address, SOS-Yamang Bayan and other green groups picketed in front of the House of Representatives where Baguilat, Bag-ao, and Gutierrez joined them to push for the AMMB, among other environmental bills.
PMPI is a member of National Executive Council of the SOS-Yamang Bayan Network.
