According to the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, the Philippines is the fifth most mineralized country in the whole world. If a country is rich, of course it will have the reckless people who will take the risk just for the sake of money. The Philippines is bearing the burden of illegal miners from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. And this is why we are seeking for you help. Please, hear our words. This is our petition against illegal mining.

Illegal mining have devastating effects on wildlife as well as in people and environment. All around the world, tropical forest ecosystems are being wiped-out at a rate of 25 million acres per year. Mining is identified as an activity that causes significant change to the environment but often ignored in deforestation analysis, because it mostly covers small areas compared to agriculture or wood extraction activities. Illegal mining can be a subsistence activity, as it is the case with artisanal mining which can belong to large organized crime, lead by illegal mining syndicates. Illegal Mining is harmful in environment as well as in people.

Philippines is rich and nature many resources. Our people living in the mountains or rural places and along the affected shorelines can no longer avail of the bounty of nature, especially on our indigenous brothers and sisters that can only rely on the resources. Mining to workers are exposure to intense heat, poor ventilation, vibration, dust, fumes, repetitive stress injury, intense noise, manual handling (e.g., lifting) of heavy machinery and biological and chemical hazards.

Mining activities, including prospecting, exploration, construction, operation, maintenance, expansion, abandonment, decommissioning and repurposing of a mine can impact social and environmental systems in a range of positive and negative, and direct and indirect ways. Mining can yield a range of benefits to societies, but it may also cause conflict, not least in relation to above-ground and sub-surface land use. Similarly, mining can alter environments, but remediation and mitigation can restore systems. Native ecosystems and aboriginal human communities are typically affected by multiple stressors, including climate change and pollution, for example.

Furthermore, one of the primary objectives of the Philippine Mining Act (Republic Act 7942) is to revitalize the ailing Philippine mining industry by providing fiscal reforms and incentives and maintaining the viable inventory of minerals to sustain the industry. Yet again, irresponsible miners are still conducting illegal mining that can clearly cause problems to our environment as stated above.

Today is the day! Don't hesitate to help! Speak up: Illegal Mining must end!

Reference:

https://www.austrade.gov.au/australian/export/export-markets/countries/philippines/industries/mining

https://www.cell.com/heliyon/pdf/S2405-8440(19)36277-2.pdf

https://www.amrc.org.hk/content/mining-philippines-and-health-and-safety-effects-mine-workers

https://environmentalevidencejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13750-019-0152-8