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An Urgent Appeal to Save Mt. Canatuan and the Subanon People
by Timuay Jose “Boy” Anoy
Saturday, Oct. 23, 2004 at 12:05 PM
An open letter from Timuay Jose “Boy” Anoy
We are Subanons, indigenous peoples whose ancestors have lived in harmony
with nature since time immemorial at the heart of Mt. Canatuan in Tabayo,
Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte. Our beautiful land, replete with natural
resources, is our life. It is given to us by Apu Manglang, to care and
nurture for.
Our land, which is the essence of our existence, will be lost to us forever
in the face of large-scale operations by Toronto Ventures Inc. (TVI), a
Canadian mining company that has no respect for our people and our way of
life. TVI has desecrated our altar, the tip of Mt. Canatuan, which is our
most sacred place. They bulldozed the tip of the mountain, destroyed our
most holy place, and in a matter of weeks, our community will be wiped out
due to their mad drive for gold.
We entered into the government's Indigenous People's Rights Act (IPRA) and
were awarded with the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT). We
cannot understand why the government has given the green light for TVI
operations. The legal holder of CADT is our Timuay. But the government also
recognized the claim of a bogus organization of pro-TVI Subanons under the
leadership of Juanito Tumangkis, who under our tradition is not a legitimate
tribal leader.
The government says that attracting more mining corporations will help solve
the country’s fiscal crisis. But our people will suffer the same fate of
many of our indigenous brothers and sisters who have been driven out of
their land by open pit mining, logging, mega-dams and other projects that
mainly benefited big business.
In order to stop TVI, we have banded together and linked up with the people
of Siocon - our Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters. We have launched
protests to air our opposition to prevent the destruction of our lush
paradise that is Siocon. TVI, with the help of the government's Special
Civilian Armed Auxiliary (SCAA), have unleashed violent actions to quell our
protests. The conflict around TVI’s mining operation has resulted in
injuries and even death among our people and the people of Siocon.
Even with TVI's propensity for violence, we are determined in our struggle.
However, we believe that we cannot do it alone. We therefore appeal to all
concerned organizations and individuals to support our struggle against TVI
mining. Join us in this very urgent matter of protecting our land, our life
and our resources. Help us stop human rights abuses against our people.
Together, let us stop the plunder of our national patrimony and destruction
of our environment.
Timuay Jose “Boy” Anoy
Apu Manglang G’lupa Pusaka
(Ancestral Domain of Apo Manglang)
save the environment
by lisa
Sunday, Oct. 31, 2004 at 8:50 AM
save paradise first, it is the precious heritage of the local peoples , plants and animals. the world is sickening with canadian and u.s. mining corporations destroying the local ecology for gold and other minerals. fort knox is full of gold stashed underground and never brought out, gold from the apaches, the cariboo people and mexicans, shosone, sioux, crees, and other indigenous peoples to numerous to say here. they indeed tear apart the natural world like the roman conquors of the british tribes before them. they have no true care for paradise. in fact they have created from uranium 7 over-kill of the planets livability. they then call the native people inferiors because they respect nature. they are not interested in developing economy but in ruinous practices against nature for private greed not communal need. do organize with their workers to unionize and put a stop to the bosses terrorism against nature. put a stop to pollution that is the way to saving our planet and peace.
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