Aside from EIA, extractive firms should secure HRIA, too

(this story is a property of www.MindaNews.com)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/October 23) – Extractive firms like
mining companies should not only secure Environmental
Impact Assessments (EIA), they should also secure an
HRIA or Human Rights Impact Assessment, Judy Pasimio
of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC)
said during a dialogue today on Mining and Human Rights
of mining-affected communities of Visayas and Mindanao here.

The dialogue is part of a week-long celebration on the Integrity
of Creation Solidarity Week which started last October 19
and will end on October 24.
“If there is an EIA required for extractive industries, the
Commission on Human Rights (CHR) should also make
HRIA a requirement to ensure that human rights aren’t
violated and that the rights of the people are preserved,” Pasimio said.
She noted that many extractive industries are not
accountable to damaged lives and environment.
Pasimio also urged the CHR to issue statements about
human rights violations “because CHR statements can
call the attention of government and agencies to act on them.”
She also recommended to CHR to create a green desk that
would receive complaints relating to transnational violations
and to also acknowledge all complaints received.
“The CHR can also make recommendations to legislative
bodies and agencies on issues that largely affect the
communities or study/support the alternative bill
on mining,” she said.
Lita Galvez, a resident of Mount Canatuan in Siocon,
Zamboanga del Norte, narrated to lawyer Cecilia
Rachel Quisumbing of the Commission on Human Rights
(CHR) how their house was “uprooted and we were harassed
by security officers of that mining company. They bulldozed
the sites where our house was located and until now,
we do not have a decent home.”
“They do not have the right to do that,” Quisumbing said,
referring to the act of the security personnel of the
TVI Resource Development Corporation which operates
an open-pit mining for gold, silver and copper in what
was previously known as the “sacred site of the Subanen people.”
Sister Lydia Lascano, ICM, from the Social Action Center of
the Diocese of Tandag, Surigao del Sur, complained that
mining has devastated ricefields and heavy siltation has
caused dislocation of the fisherfolk who are now fishing in the
far seas of Homonhon Island, Western Samar.
Lascano also spoke about a mining firm whose application is
over a watershed area and how its coverage would directly
affect three municipalities.
“Mining does not only destroy environments, it polarizes
communities and sows dissension against those who do
not favor its operations, just like how they maligned our
priest for standing firm on the sanctity of life and environment,”
Lascano added.
Jean Marie Ferraris of the Legal Rights and Natural Resource
Center Inc. based in Davao City, said it seems that violations
of the rights of those who oppose mining are “actually orchestrated,
synchronized and systematic to carry out the mission to
eliminate the stumbling blocks of large scale and foreign-owned corporations.”
“I really feel so guilty,” said Quisumbing, adding, their office has
“limited resources and we cannot provide even temporary security
to community leaders who are sued or harassed by companies.
We do not even have sergeant-at-arms. We cannot protect you
even if you will hide inside our office.”
But Quisumbing remains optimistic about teaming up with civil
society supporting mining-affected communities “by keeping faith
and by maximizing all laws such as the Writ of Amparo to seek
temporary protection order from the Department of Justice (DOJ)
before anyone would be killed and to develop a database on human
rights violations.”
She said she recognizes that it is CHR’s role to investigate,
educate, monitor and recommend laws to further provide legal
protection to affected communities such as formulating
recommendations to Congress about the conflict between
the national mining law and the Indigenous Peoples Right Act (IPRA).
“Unfortunately, mining cannot be stopped and I do not know whether
this is good or bad but we must not give up,” Quisumbing said.
“Maybe what we could give to mining –affected communities is
moral support, technical advise, monitor violations, get complaints
and issue advisories because we do not have adjudicatory power,”
Quisumbing expounded.
“There is also a need to strengthen the relations of agencies such
as NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) and CHR so
that we could study together the appropriate mechanism to the
problem on why NCIP is too slow in granting certificates of
ancestral domain title but granting of mining permit is too fast,” she added.
Quisumbing also urged the group to use a formal format in getting
testimonies from communities about human rights violations such
as the use of affidavits and video documentation of actual harassment.
“Let us also see how we can maximize the CHR to bridge civil society’s
advocacy to the system so that we will not end up seeing people dead
before we will call it human rights violation,” she said.
“We can also help communities by strengthening the barangay-based
HR center so that those living in rural and isolated areas know
how to take evidence and how to document these all,” Quisumbing added.
She also said that on her return to Manila, she will confer with
the Dean of the UP College of Law, Marvic Leonen, about the overlapping
and disharmonized laws on IPRA and Mining. “Maybe we could make a
policy research on this,” she said. (Violeta M. Gloria/MindaNews)