Day 21

3 min. Legal aid in the fight against environmental destruction in Sumbiling

Indigenous resistance against an open-pit mining company Indigenous resistance against an open-pit mining company

Only intact mountain rainforest supplies the village population with drinking water

Kennedy Corio lives in his birthplace, the village of Sumbiling at the foot of the Bulanjao Mountains. He grows ginger, peanuts, eggplants and cassava around his house. He irrigates his fields with water from the Sumbiling River, which flows from the mountains. When the river began to turn red more and more often a few years ago and thin red iron oxide deposits remained on the ground after the fields were irrigated, Kennedy's plants no longer grew as well. He searched the mountains for the cause and found that a mining company had cleared trees there and was in the process of building new roads. The erosion washed toxic soil into the river. Together with other villagers, Kennedy founded the "Save Bulanjao" initiative and called on the environmental authority to set up a drinking water protection area. With the support of the ELAC Palawan organization, they succeeded in getting their demands met. Kennedy felt that he could make a difference and demand his rights.

Doc Esser presents his favorite project

need

Preservation of the mountain rainforest in the Philippine Bulanjao Mountains as a natural habitat for the indigenous Pala'wan group

activity

2 lawyers document legal violations by the mining company, file lawsuits and conduct the legal proceedings for the Pala'wan people

Measurable performance

The two lawyers provide 4,032 hours (252 days each) of legal assistance to the indigenous Pala'wan group

Result

Through the work of the lawyers, the Pala'wan can assert their rights in court and campaign for the protection of nature

Systemically relevant impact

The rights of indigenous minorities are strengthened. Illegal environmental destruction by large corporations is becoming more of a public focus

background

The Philippines is very rich in raw materials, with deposits of gold, copper, nickel and silver (Mongabay 2017; PowerShift 2017). The Mining Act of 1995 (RA No. 7942) allows foreign companies to mine these mineral resources. The ore is usually taken out of the country and processed in China, Japan or Australia (PowerShift 2017). Lack of safety controls in mining often causes environmental disasters such as landslides or dam collapses at toxic tailings ponds, which flood entire villages. Many raw material deposits are located in forested regions inhabited by indigenous peoples. The destruction of their natural livelihoods often leads to displacement. In Sumbiling, the Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation Inc. has been mining nickel ore in open-pit mines since 1975 (Forbes 2014). Nickel is a component of steel, but also of car batteries. The International Energy Agency estimates that demand for nickel will increase by 60% over the next twenty years due to electric mobility (Ilagan et al. 2021). The company is striving to expand open-pit mining, but it lacks permits to do so. However, local NGOs such as ELAC Palawan report that, despite the lack of permits, it is illegally developing the Bulanjao mountain range, building roads, and carrying out rock blasting and test drilling. River diversions, deforestation, landslides and erosion are occurring. The indigenous residents of Sumbiling, such as Kennedy, are suffering as a result. Of the 850 families in the village, 68% have no access to clean drinking water. They get their domestic and drinking water from the Sumbiling River, which is often polluted. Open-pit mining activities threaten the local biodiversity and cause significant environmental degradation (Sonter et al. 2018, No to Mining in Palawan 2011, Environmental Legal Assistance Center 2021).

The good deed

The people in Sumbiling belong to the indigenous Pala'wan people. For several years they have been documenting the illegal destruction of their habitat by the mining company, especially the mountain rainforest. With an average family income of 30 euros a month, the Pala'wan do not have the financial means to take legal action against the Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. The experienced human rights organization ELAC Palawan will therefore provide legal support to the Pala'wan. With your good deed, ELAC Palawan will employ two lawyers who will deal exclusively with the legal violations of the mining company in Sumbiling. The two lawyers will take witness statements, take photographic evidence, document all violations, bring charges and represent the indigenous people in court. This is intended to force the mining company to comply with environmental and mining laws and to preserve the Pala'wan's natural livelihood and protect the rainforest.