Philippines Mangyan tribe on indefinite hunger strike over Norwegian Mining Project

See forwarded media reports below of hunger strike by Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines in Manila, outside the headquarters of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, in relation to the issuance of a mining concession in the Mangyans ancestral lands and watershed area for the Island of Mindoro (details at http://earthjedi.blogspot.com ). The latest news is that someone has also started a hunger strike in Rome at the World Food Summit in protest against the issuance and project.

The strike is having some effect as Secretary of the DENR Atienza is coming under pressure as a result of the national and international press coverage to justify his decision and Intex's shares were halted on the Oslo stock exchange as they fell due to bad publicity and uncertainty. However we need to put as much pressure on the Government of the Philippines (and also the company Intex Resources of Norway and the Norwegian Government) to cancel the Environment Clearance Certificate, as they have already attempted to fluff the issue by saying they will suspend the ECC for 90 days - i.e. to end the hunger strike and then have mining proceed as planned. The hunger strikers have rightly described this as a sham and decided to continue with their action until the ECC is cancelled.

The last of the two reports attached below are Support Statements that the Working Group on Mining in the Philippines and LRC have sent to the hunger strikers. PLEASE SEND LETTERS OF SUPPORT TO: roslynarayata@yahoo.com.ph; nc@alyansatigilmina.net; whit@piplinks.org ; lodel@piplinks.org

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