Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Manila (Agenzia Fides) – Save the island of Palawan and its indigenous communities from destruction and pollution...this is the goal of a forum of missionaries, Christian communities, NGOs, and environmental groups who have launched a petition to prevent the destruction of one of the most beautiful islands in the Filipino archipelago, the island of Palawan. As Fides has been informed by some of the missionaries involved in the forum, Palawan – a long island in the western part of the archipelago, in the South China Sea – is likely to be destroyed due to mining projects and extensive agriculture authorized by the central and provincial Filipino Government.
Palawan, the largest province of the Philippines, is a true paradise, an unspoiled island with a rare and delicate ecosystem, which includes numerous plant and animal species. It is inhabited by indigenous tribes such as the Tagbanua, Palawanon, Tau't Bato, Molbog, Batak, who live in small villages in the mountainous areas or along the coast, living off of fishing and subsistence farming. The island is not a tourist site, as in recent decades it has been preserved from great building projects Palawan is now part of the UNESCO Program of “Man and the Biosphere.”
"Right now the island is at stake: the life and dignity of local communities is at risk, not to mention the protection of creation," say the missionaries who signed and circulated the petition to "Save Palawan." In fact, work is now underway for building roads to open quarries and mining sites, by multinational businesses “MacroAsia” and “Celestial.”
Under the agreement with the government in Manila, "Macro Asia" has rights to the land which has always belonged - according to the concept of ancestral domain – to indigenous communities, some of whom have few contacts with the outside world, putting at risk their survival and the survival of the ecosystem.
Other projects sponsored by the provincial government of Palawan, provide for extensive planting of palms to get oil for bio-fuels: this would be a serious damage to biodiversity and would severely reduce the access of local populations to different resources of the earth.
"We ask the government to withdraw the 'Mining Act' of 1995, which was really disastrous for the indigenous peoples of the Philippines,” says the petition signed and circulated by many missionaries in the Philippines. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 12/3/2010)
