Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya

KASIBU, Nueva Vizcaya (NV)– Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), an advocacy group and a people’s movement composed of more than eighty (80) organizations from mining-affected communities and civil society organizations nationwide, condemns the illegal demolition and violent dispersal of the residents from communities, which hosts an Australian mining company owned by OceanaGold Corp. Inc. (OGPI). The incident happened last October 2 Barangay Didipio, where OGPI’s Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) covers 23 barangays in Kasibu.

The Alyansa Tigil Mina in the news: Anti-mining residents thank CHR through song and

The CA’s fifth division upheld the petition filed by OceanaGold Philippines Inc. to stop Cuaresma from enforcing the cease-and-desist order (CDO) on the firm’s operations in Didipio village in Kasibu town, site of its $117-million gold-copper project. (Inquirer.net)

“We are so thankful that for the past months, we have been able to sleep soundly, and we no longer needed to stay in the barricade,” said Julian Inlab, Didipio village council member, referring to a human blockade set up by residents to stop the entry of OceanaGold heavy equipment in their area.

The environmental group Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) scored the 8th Asia-Pacific Mining Conference held in Manila last week claiming that the meeting of mining stakeholders in the region is not a welcome development.

Stirred by his visit to Sibuyan mining site last May 2008, last July 9 – 13, 2008; this time the revered bishop heeded the call of the three mining communities of Nueva Viscaya. Elated with joy and inspiration, the communities of Barangays Pacquet and Didipio of Kasibu and Barangays Runruno and Caliat of Quezon all of Nueva Viscaya, warmly welcomed Bishop Broderick Pabillo.

On the day Pesident Gloria Macapagal Arroyo delivers her 8th State of the Nation Address, indigenous peoples groups from different parts of Mindanao will be delivering their own version of the annual national situationer to draw attention to the plight of the country’s indigenous people who feel they have been excluded from the country’s development agenda.