Introduction
1. This stakeholders’ report is a submission of Franciscans International (FI), a faith-based
International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) with General Consultative Status with
the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It was founded in 1982 to bring to the
UN the concerns of the most vulnerable.
2. Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) is an alliance of mining-affected communities and their support
groups of peoples’ organizations and other civil society organizations who oppose the
aggressive promotion of large-scale mining in the Philippines. The alliance is currently
pushing for a moratorium on large-scale mining revocation of the government policy on the
revitalization of the mining industry in the Philippines, repeal of the Mining Act of 1995, and
passage of the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB).
3. LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights) is a collective of women’s rights
advocates and feminists in the Philippines, who aims to contribute in the building and raising
awareness and understanding of rural and indigenous women on their rights, their roles, their
potentials; formation and deepening of analysis of their situation and factors affecting this;
development and enhancement of rural and indigenous women’s skills in advancing and
protecting their rights.
4. The report highlights key concerns related to the human rights of women as stipulated in the
UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
The data and information obtained for this submission came from various sources and include
information from FI, ATM and LILAK with the support their network in the Philippines. The
report focuses on impact of natural resources extraction, especially mining, on indigenous
women’s human rights.
Context of mining in the Philippines
5. The legal basis of the exploitation of the mining resources in the Philippines is the Mining Act
of 1995 (Republic Act No. 7942). It introduced fundamental economic incentives for foreign
investors. The Act also includes basic social responsibilities, especially regarding indigenous
communities. Today, the Mining Act is subject to political controversies, most severely with
regard to environmental sustainability, the level of protection of affected communities, and the
amount of tax revenues.1
6. A further controversy concerns the relationship between the Mining Act and the Indigenous
Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997. The latter emphasizes that indigenous communities have
priority rights within their ancestral domains. In contrast, the Mining Act grants the state the
prerogative to also exploit natural resources on indigenous lands. So far, it has not been clearly
established how IPRA is to be weighed against the Mining Act.2
7. Considering some weaknesses of the currently Mining Act, especially on the issue of
environmental protection and the potential negative impact of mining activities on sustainable
social development, there has been several proposals for the amendment of the Act. Since
1
See « Human Rights Impact Assessment of the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project » page XII, at
http://www.fastenopfer.ch/data/media/dokumente/entwicklungspolitik/soziale_unternehmensverantwortung
/menschenrechte_in_tnc/tampakan/study_tampakan_HRIA_engl.pdf
2
Idem
2