On March 3, 1995, Republic Act 7942 otherwise known as the Philippine Mining

Act was passed into law. As a law liberalizing the mining industry, the Mining Act
was hailed to boost the country’s economic growth. The law was also hyped to
bring rural progress and development especially in communities hosting large
scale mining corporations.

20 years after the passage of the law, the promises of economic growth, rural
progress and development are pure myths and far from becoming a reality. More
than economic growth, the Mining Act paved way for the massive plunder and
destruction of natural resources, displacement of communities, and violations of
the collective rights of indigenous peoples over our ancestral domains and natural
resources as experienced by the Igorot communities in the Cordillera from
decades of large-scale mining operations.

Some of the oldest and biggest mining operations in the country are found in
Benguet province – the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company, Philex and
Benguet Corporation. These mining operations have left permanent scars to the
residents of Mankayan and Itogon municipalities and other affected communities
due to the destructions wrought by the mining operations on their ways of life,
the environment, and to robbing the future of the next generations.

At the onset, large mining firms have been exploiting our natural resources for
gold, copper and other minerals for the sake of super profit, while leaving
mountains flattened, excavated and hollowed; rivers and creeks contaminated;
and people’s livelihood lost. While mining firms indulge in gold extraction,
communities face constant risks and dangers from impending disasters as a result
of mining activities. The experiences of mining-affected communities in the
Cordillera region are a living proof and witnesses to the impacts of large scale
mining operations.
The ground subsidence and massive sinking of communities in Mankayan which
claimed lives and destruction of livelihood, the collapse of Philex’s tailings dam 3,
and the continuing pollution of rivers are only a few of the serious environmental
crimes committed by Lepanto, Philex and Benguet Corporation. In spite of these,
Lepanto aims to further expand its operations in partnership with trans-national
companies such as the South African Goldfields Mining Ltd. while Philex
continues to use its tailings dam 3.

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At present and due to the liberalization of the mining industry in the country,
mining companies continue to target the Cordillera region for the extraction of
gold, copper, silver and other minerals, with numerous mining applications
covering more than 60% or 1.2 million hectares of the region’s total land area.
These mining applications are coupled with militarization and violations of the
Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) by the National Commission on Indigenous
Peoples (NCIP) and mining companies. These are a cause of trouble and chaos in
communities. For instance, the manipulation by the NCIP-Kalinga in the FPIC
process in favor of the Makilala Mining Company in Guinaang, Pasil, Kalinga is in
no way a move that promotes our rights as indigenous peoples. FPIC violations
are similarly experienced in other Cordillera communities.

The mining industry is among the least contributors to the country’s wealth
contrary to the government’s claim of bringing about prosperity to the country. In
2012, a study conducted by IBON revealed that the gross-value added (GVA) of
the mining industry, which government itself measures, registered an average of
1% in 2000-2011. The mining contribution only peaked in 2007 at only 1.63
percent. IBON also added that while the GVA in mining in absolute terms has
been increasing on average albeit in a slow pace, the share of mining’s GVA to the
gross domestic product (GDP) is actually decreasing on average after peaking in
the 1970s.