Is the Alyansa Tigil Mina totally against mining?

NO. The ATM is against the policy regime of this administration in promoting foreign-controlled and export-oriented large-scale mining.

WE ARE AGAINST MINING AS IT IS BEING PRACTICED TODAY.

We are against the liberal interpretation and implementation of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and Executive Order 270-A that shifts the policy from tolerance to the relentless promotion of large-scale mining. In the same way, we are against the National Minerals Action Plan (NMAP) whose listed priority mining sites will encroach on almost 53% of ancestral domains of Indigenous Tribes and about 60% of protected areas. 

Our opposition is also based on the intent to allow foreign control and ownership of mineral resources. This approach will not drive local development or fuel national industrialization as most of the extracted minerals will be exported as raw products.  In the end the Philippines will continue to depend on imported mineral products.

More importantly, our opposition also stems from the systematic weakening of safety nets that assure participation  and self-determination of local development. The Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process was emasculated. To many special incentives were granted to large-scale mining companies to the detriment of LGUs and local communities. In addition, the potential impact of large-scale mining operations pose threats to sustainable agriculture, community-based upland development and coastal and fisheries resources.

Finally, we are critical of the way that the government is promoting the mining industry as a poverty-reduction stratgey, and as the base for economic development. This is simply not an honest practice. The projections of values and volumes of mineral resources have not been validated or have been distorted. The government has backtracked on its own projections any number of times. The claimed economic benefits of mining are too short-term and threaten too much - sustainable livelihoods and local development - as well as creating issues of social displacement, cultural conflicts and environmental degradation.