Groups to offer prayers, flowers for 'environment martyrs'

Hundreds of environmental activists will gather early Thursday evening at designated places in several key cities in the country to offer prayers, flowers and light candles in honor of those who have been killed in the fight for the environment. The activity is the highlight of this year's observance of the International Day of Commemoration of the Heroes, Heroines and Martyrs of the Resistance against the Mining, Oil and Gas. Students, religious people, human rights and environmental activists simultaneously gathered in Manila, Puerto Princesa, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro and offered prayers, flowers, and lighted candles as relatives and friends recalled the lives and struggles of those they called "heroes and heroines" for environment. Around 200 supporters from the city of Manila will gather at the Pope Pius Center along UN Avenue, and set up portraits of fallen comrades for the planned prayers and other activities. The killing in Cotabato on Oct. 17 of Italian priest Fr. Fausto Tentorio is the latest in the string of killings of environmentalists for this year alone. Early this year, Dr. Gerry Ortega of Palawan was shot and killed in Puerto Princesa. Another outspoken anti-mining activist, Datu Roy Gallego, was also killed in Surigao del Sur last Oct 14. Other documented killings that are related to mining include the cases of Sibuyan Island Councilor Armin Rios Marin who was killed by a mining security guard in 2007 right in front of a rally against mining; Gensun Agustin from Cagayan Valley, gunned down on a highway in 2009, while on his way from an anti-mining forum he organized; and Rudy Segovia, shot and killed at a barricade set up in Zamboanga del Norte to prevent the entry of mining equipment in their ancestral domains. “We seek justice for these martyrs. People and the governmnet must bring their assailants to justice, for true peace to be achieved", said Judy Pasimio from Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center – Kasama sa Kalikasa (LRC-KsK). According to her, “the Philippine government must not put the interests of the mining companies over the welfare of the community and the whole nation, by serving the greed of these large mining transnational corporations". Meanwhile, human rights groups also urged President Aquino to recall its policy of deploying more paramilitary groups to protect large-scale mining operations against rebel attacks. In early October this year, the New Peoples’ Army (NPA) assaulted three mining firms in Claver, Surigao del Norte. “There will be more environmental martyrs if this situation will continue because paramilitary groups in the Philippines have a long history of human rights violations against the civilian population," Max de Mesa, chairperson of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) said in an interview. According to PAHRA, local human rights defenders documented in Surigao region (where the October attacks happened) several rights abuses such as harassment, torture, destruction of properties and land grabbing mostly committed by the military and civilian defense groups in connivance with mining and logging firms. In Cebu, the City Council adopted a Special Resolution declaring Nov. 10 as a Day of Remembrance of Environmental Heroes and Martyrs. A briefing was held at the Cabrido Law Office, where the "environmental martyrs" were remembered and recognition rites for environmental groups was also held. A Paghandum or candle-lighting liturgy will be held in the evening at Sto. Rosario Parish, Cebu City. The events were organized by the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), SANLAKAS, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralita ng Lungsod-Cebu (KPML-Cebu), Kilusan Para sa Pambansang Demokrasya-Cebu (KPD-Cebu), FDC-Cebu, CASE, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFD)-Visayas in coordination with the Cebu City's Barangay Environmental Officers (BEO) association. In Cagayan de Oro, a similar prayer-gathering was organized by alternative legal groups and human rights groups led by Amnesty International-Cagayan de Oro (AI-CDO), Legal rights and natural resources center (LRC) Balay alternative legal advocates for development in mindanaw (BALAOD), Ateneo de cagayan university (Xavier); Balay Mindanao foundation incorporated (BMFI), and Kaisahan tungo sa kaunlaran (KAISAHAN). The events were part of the global solidarity actions for environmental heroes, where similar events were organized in Nigeria, Indonesia, Guatemala and Australia. November 10 marks the anniversary of the murder of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa who, together with eight other Ogoni leaders, were executed on 10 November 1995 for speaking out against the impact of oil companies' operations in the Niger Delta. Also on Thursday, a new report by Friends of the Earth International will be released, even as the members of the group renew their commitment to the struggle for justice for the communities who suffer the consequences of extractive industries. The new report is entitled 'Memory, Truth and Justice for Heroes in the Resistance against Mining Oil and Gas' and exposes the murders of many human rights and environmental activists all over the world for defending their rights and natural resources. For his part, Romel de Vera, coordinator of the Resisting Mining, Oil and Gas program of Friends of the Earth International, said “We condemn the fact that many governments favor and protect the interests of extractive industry corporations instead of the right of communities to land and resources. The list of community rights defenders, environmentalists and social activists killed in the course of their struggle against mining, oil and gas continues to grow even longer." — LBG, GMA News