MindaNews » Forum on PNoy’s EO 79 on mining draws mixed reactions.

By Cong Corrales
August 6, 2012

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/5 Aug) – Church leaders, environmentalists, civil society organizations and a lumad leader took turns in “cutting down” President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s Executive Order 79 in a forum held here last week, saying the order favors large-scale mining operations.

At the forum, Christian Monsod, chair of the National Agricultural and Fishery Council Committee on Climate Change, presented the President’s recent order on mining to members and guests of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and local green groups at the Fr. Patrick Cronin Formation Center of the St. Augustine’s Cathedral.

Although the figures do not institute connectedness, Monsod said these “show an association between mining and poverty that at least raises questions on the claim that mining substantially improves life in their communities.”

“Mining has the highest poverty incidence at 48.7 percent in any sector in the country,” he said, citing the booming large-scale mining operations in the regions of Caraga, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Bicol.

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