A petition for all mining companies to get their hands off Sibuyan Island, "the Galapagos of Asia," and for the Sangguniang Bayan of San Fernando, Romblon to reverse their decision allowing Altai Philippines Mining Corporation to conduct mining-related operations in the island. 

Sibuyan Island has long been valued not only for its mineral resources but also for its extraordinary biodiversity, forests, rivers, and coastal ecosystems. Many people refer to it as the "Galápagos of Asia" because of its high number of endemic species. When a community faces decisions about mining, the discussion naturally becomes difficult because it involves competing priorities: economic opportunities and local revenues on one hand, and environmental protection, livelihoods, and cultural heritage on the other; but, picture this: scarred mountains, trees gone, brown rivers, poisoned waters and seas, livelihood gone, mine and minerals gone..the price our children have to pay for the wrong decisions we make today.  Will they be better off, or will they suffer the same fate as citizens of failed mining communities. 

This petition doesn't simply say "mining is bad." Instead, it asks a moral question: 

Would you accept these consequences if they happened in your own home? 

That question invites reflection rather than merely saying "mining is bad." 

This petition speaks with a collective voice. It isn't just one person's protest; it becomes the voice of a community defending its home. That gives it a dignity that the petitioner hopes will resonate with signers regardless of where they stand. This is a manifestation of how people felt, what they feared, and what they hoped to protect. 

This petition is not against progress but a sincere prayer and hope that any development on the island proceeds with genuine transparency, rigorous environmental safeguards, and meaningful participation from the communities whose lives and livelihoods are most directly affected. 

This anti-mining sonnet is shared by the petitioner. Originally titled palladium, it was changed to niccolum, the element the mining companies are after. 

niccolum
 bilshan f. servañez 

we shall not drink your cyanide water
 nor eat fish that swam a mercury sea
 would you indulge given the same platter
 will you have it if we served during tea 

if you destroy our wide coral garden
 put to risk the fragile ecosystem
 how many would you leave with the burden
 to feed mouths when excavations lose steam 

minamata will not be looc bay
 nor diwalwal become of our mountain
 parpaguha will not go boac's way
 our fair romblon shores we'd fight to maintain 

how would you feel if your home sanctuarium
 be riddled with slugs of blood niccolum