Last August 9, 2016, Bayan Muna Rep. Karlos Zarate led the filing of the People’s Mining Bill to Congress. He was accompanied by a delegation composed of twelve IP leaders and advocates from mine affected communities in Nueva Vizcaya, Mindanano, Pampanga and Mindoro. The delegation came from the Scrap the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 network.
Prior to the actual filing, Rep. Zarate met the delegation for a briefing about the Bill, and the process it will undertake before it passes into a law. The Congressman asked the group to be vigilant and persevere in lobbying their own District /provincial Legislators to adopt or pass the said Bill into a law. After the actual filing, IP leaders proceeded to lobby other lawmakers where they also submitted the IP Legislative Agenda.
The Philippine Mining Act of 1995 has been criticized by human rights defenders and indigenous people’s groups as inimical to the country’s environment and the marginalized, especially farmers and indigenous people. Human rights defenders have criticized the Act as a tool to subvert the rights of tribal groups and it is often used as a justification to militarize areas targeted by mining companies. In response, the Peoples Mining Bill, an alternative law to the aforementioned Act was crafted by the party-list group Bayan Muna.###
