Lopez has to give up her office as Minister of the Environment

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), it is “a debacle for the indigenous peoples of the Philippines” that Regina Lopez, the committed Minister of the Environment, has to give up her office. “This is a crushing victory for the mining industry and the lobbyists who tried to prevent restrictions regarding the production of raw materials in the world’s fifth-largest mining nation,” stated Ulrich Delius, the STP’s Asia expert, in Göttingen on Thursday. “For the Indigenous peoples, Lopez was a glimmer of hope, as she dared to confront the powerful mining lobby in order to protect the environment and the native people. The indigenous peoples will now be facing even more violence and a further destruction of their livelihood, as their land will be gradually sold to the mining companies.”

Following three hearings in the Congress of the East Asian country on Wednesday, Lopez had not been confirmed as Minister of the Environment. Since taking office ten months ago, she had closed down 22 of the 41 mines in the country due to violations of the rights of the indigenous people or of environment protection requirements. Only last week, she had gotten a lot of attention for her decision to suspend the operation of open-cast mines.

On the capital markets, the news that she had not been confirmed in office had led to gains in the mining sector. The traders are obviously assuming that several restrictions on mining will now be lifted. The Philippines are the largest nickel producer in the world, but there are also huge gold, copper and silver deposits. The mining companies had accused Lopez of destroying their industry.

Until March 2016, a total number of 246 mining licenses had been issued for 619,000 hectares of indigenous land. The permits were granted on the basis of the controversial mining laws of 1995. Thousands of indigenous people had been displaced and deprived of their land to establish new mining projects. Forests were destroyed, and the rivers were polluted with chemicals that are used in the process of extracting the raw materials. Further, most of the 76 murders of indigenous activists committed between 2010 and 2016 are to be seen in connection with the mining activities. On the island of Mindanao alone, 16 indigenous Lumad were murdered since June 2016 – as a means to intimidate the people.

About 15 million of the 98 million inhabitants of the country belong to the more than 110 indigenous peoples of the Philippines.

Header Photo: ILO in Asia and the Pacific via Flickr