Philippine church leaders join movement against big mining firms

From ENS-

Leaders from Philippine Roman Catholic and Protestant groups have joined non-government and indigenous peoples’ organizations in a renewed campaign against big mining firms.

“The campaign against large-scale mining is also a campaign against greed,” the Rev. Eduardo Solang, a retired priest of the Episcopal Church of the Philippines, told ENInews on Dec. 14.
Solang was among 150 delegates to a Dec. 13-15 mining and human rights summit convened in the northern Philippine city of Baguio by the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance and the Ecumenical Bishops Forum.

According to organizers, the summit was aimed “to sum up the economic, social, cultural, environmental and human rights impacts of the ongoing destructive large-scale mining operations in affected communities based on shared experiences.”

During the summit, the Ibon Foundation, an independent research organization, listed 28 large-scale metallic mines nationwide, mostly owned by transnational firms, engaged in extracting gold, silver, copper, nickel, chromite and zinc.

It also reported 2,358 mines that extract non-metallic elements such as sand, gravel and cement.

More here-

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2011/12/15/philippine-church-leaders-join-movement-against-big-mining-firms/