Open letter of tribal leader on hunger strike vs Mindoro mining to President Arroyo

Posted on November 25, 2009 by mindorocybermovement

Orignal letter in Hanunuo Mangyan script

(Mangyan)

Mahal nimi Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,

Kawo Kanmi Pangulo sa buong Pilipinas. Atay kami kainda sa harapan opisina ni Secretary Lito Atienza bilang pinuno sa DENR. Kami tay nguna ay tanan yi magkalun-os ag magkagasa yi.

Kanmi kabuhayan ay madaot, kanmi sagradong lugay ay madaot din, kami ay mapapalayas ginan sa kanmi daga, ag ti kalikasan ay madaot. Adok mga buhi ti mamatay no ituloy ti planong pag mina, sa sulod daga ginurang. Buo kanmi paghadlang sa daka pagmimina.

Kanmi paghagadon sa kanmo bilang pinakaabwat lider sa Pilipinas ay bul-on yi kay bisa ti ECC na ipinahintulot sa Intex Resources.

Ti mag hagad mga mangyan sa Silangang Mindoro.

Pirmado ti may surat,

Ponyon Kadlos
Tagapag-ugnay ng Kapulungan Para sa Lupaing Ninuno (KPLN)

(Filipino)

Mahal naming Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,

Kayo ang aming pangulo sa buong Pilippinas. Nandito kami ngayon sa harapan ng opisina ni Secretary Lito Atienza bilang pinuno sa DENR.

Kami ngayon ay lahat-lahat nagugutom at nanghihina na.

Ang aming kabuhayan ay mawawasak. Masisira ang aming pinahahalagahang sagradong lugar, kami ay mapapalayas sa aming lupain at ang kalikasan ay lubos na masira. Maraming mga buhay ang mamatay dahil sa napipintong planong pagmimina sa loob ng aming lupaing ninuno. Lubos naming tinutulan ang malawakang pagmimina.

Hinihingi namin sa iyo bilang pinakamataas na lider sa Pilipinas na ipawalang bisa na ang iginawad na ECC sa Intex Reources.

Ang humihingi ay mga katutubong Mangyan sa Silangang Mindoro.

Ang sumulat at lumagda,

Ponyong Kadlos
Tagapag-ugnay ng Kapulungan Para sa Lupaing Ninuno (KPLN)

(English)

Our beloved President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,

You are our president, the chief executive of the entire nation. We are here in front of the office of the head of the DENR Secretary Lito Atienza. We are hungry and weak.

Our “whole life” is at risk. Our sacred grounds will be ruined, we will be displaced from our land and the environment will be devastated. Lives are at risk because of the proposed mining within our ancestral domain. We strongly oppose large-scale mining.

As the highest leader of the Philippines, we ask you to revoke the ECC issued to Intex Resources,

We ask this on behalf of the Mangyans at Oriental Mindoro.

Written and signed by,

Ponyong Kadlos
Coordinator, Kapulungan Para sa Lupaing Ninuno (KPLN)

Manila, Philippines - Mangyan tribal leader, Ponyong Kadlos, on hunger strike against mining writes an open letter addressed to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The letter is written in Hanuno Mangyan script, known endangered script in the Philippines. The letter presents the strong opposition of the Mangyans on the Mindoro Nickel Project owned by Norwegian mining company Intex Resources. November 23,2009. Photo by Roslyn Arayata, Policy Officer, Alyansa Tigil Mina

Manila, Philippines - Mangyan tribal leader, Ponyong Kadlos, on hunger strike against mining shows his open letter addressed to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The letter is written in Hanuno Mangyan script, known endangered script in the Philippines. The letter presents the strong opposition of the Mangyans on the Mindoro Nickel Project owned by Norwegian mining company Intex Resources. Photo by Roslyn Arayata, Policy Officer, Alyansa Tigil Mina

Filed under: Press Release | Tagged: Alamin, Alangan, Alyansa Laban sa Mina, Alyansa Tigil Mina, Ancestral domain, Biodiversity, Church, Cimate change, DENR, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, ECC, Environmental Compliance Certificate, Environmental issues, food security, Global warming, Hanunuo, Hunger strike, Intex, Intex Resources, Mangyan, Mindoro, Mindoro Nickel Project, Mindoro opposition, Mining moratorium, Nickel, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Press Release, Protest

Sec. Lito Atienza: Ignoramus?

The people of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro were ENRAGE & CONDEMNS DENR Sec. Lito Atienza's IGNORANCE by saying that he never knew what's really happening in the Island of Mindoro relative to his "railroaded" issuance of ECC to Intex Resouces for the Mindoro Nickel Project. People's convention the Brigada Kontra Mina already sent a letter of appeal to the President of the Republic. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo dated October 28, 2008 and received by the Office of the President on December 23, 2008, enclosed signatures of more or less fifty thousand people of the Municipality of Sablayan who expressed their sentiments against mining in Sablayan and the whole Island of Mindoro, attached also the 25 Year Mining Moratorium of the Municipality! Our letter of appeal was then referred to the Mines & Geoscience Bureau and in response a furnished copy dated April 3, 2009, to the Office of the Secretary of the DENR. How could Secretary Atienza alleged that he never knew whats really happening in the Island of Mindoro, or he just walk away from the truth. From the very beginning the so called environmental impact assessment, consultation of the proponent favored their side, but in a way the very institution created under our Constitution to defend the right and welfare of our people was set aside, or maybe for his self interest!

We CONDEMNED Sec. Lito Atienza by not taking notice of the vulnerability of the Island of Mindoro in terms of geohazards, the critical watershed areas within the mining application, the desecration of the indigenous people, the Mangyans and endangering the remaining numbers of endemic Tamaraws! "Ignorance of the law, excuses no one" according to the old adage and our forefathers said "those who have less in life must have more in law"!

We would like to inform Sec. Atienza that the protest rally held in Manila is NOT PREMATURE, we already do it a long ago, where in fact the mining company started to pose threat to our people and the environment we already prepared for the worse, placing the entire municipality in a 25 years mining moratorium.

We vowed to fight for our people and the environmental dangers that await us all, the Island of Mindoro fed most of the people in Metro Manila, we call for the REVOCATION of the ECC!

We CONDEMNED Sec. Lito Atienza's IGNORANCE, and he's not EXCUSE!

REVOKE THE ECC!