Philippines
Factbox
Natural resources include copper, nickel, iron, cobalt, silver and gold. Philippines’ mining sector is full of potential and in the world’s top five for copper and gold reserves. In 2010 the Philippines created about 10% of the world’s production of nickel.
Sources: Mines and Geosciences Bureau, USGS, US State Department
Recent activities
4 August 2011 – The Bantay Kita coalition hosted its first ever national conference, to unite civil society activists engaged in mining advocacy in the Philippines. The conference brought together more than 70 participants, including many representatives from communities directly affected by the adverse impacts of mining.
This field-based study, which included focus-groups and key-informant interviews with a number of stakeholders, concluded that there is a serious lack of transparency in the industry currently – whereby even local governments have difficulty accessing information about the contracts that have been entered into with mining ventures (thus depriving them of the ability to maximize local gains from the industry). The critical processes for securing local consent have too often been manipulated and have led to increased opposition to mining operations, to social division and to conflict.
The principal objective of the conference was to present the initial findings of the research, and to strategize as civil society collectively for future advocacy on extractive industry transparency. The final report will be publicly launched soon – so watch this space!
Contact Person
Maita Gomez
Bantay Kita Coordinator
C/o Action for Economic Reforms
Unit 1403 West Trade Center,
132 West Avenue, Quezon City
1104 Philippines
Tel. (+63) 2 426 5626
maita_gomez100@yahoo.com / bantaykita@yahoo.com
Coalition members
Action for Economic Reforms
Bantay Kita coalition
Kinaadman Research Center
Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns
Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement
