Representatives from the Apostolic Vicariates of Puerto Princesa and Taytay urged provincial board members on Tuesday to approve the ordinance instituting a 25-year moratorium to safeguard Palawan’s ecological future.
They stated that the recent floods in southern Palawan demonstrated that mining is not sustainable on the island.
“If you don’t become brave enough for us, we’ll make sure we get [a new] Sangguniang Panlalawigan who can help us. (…) Kapag hindi niyo ipinaglaban ang Palaweño, we will make sure that you will not win the elections. We challenge the Church and all the churches to make sure na ang susunod na [Sangguniang] Panlalawigan ay kakampi ng kalikasan, at kakampi ng sambayanang Palaweño,” was the closing statement of Rev. Fr. Roderick Caabay from the Apostolic Vicariate of Taytay (AVT) during the environment committee hearing on Tuesday.
He, along with Fr. Armando Limsa from the Tribal Apostolate of the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princesa (AVPP), presented the written statement from various groups of Catholic and Christian faith in the province, all in consensus that an ordinance for the mining moratorium in Palawan should be approved immediately.
The religious sector was among those invited to the public committee hearing on February 4, consulted for their perspective on the proposed mining moratorium in the province.
The moratorium would mean that 25 years would be dedicated to researching the carrying capacity of Palawan for additional mining efforts—preventing any new mining applicants on Palawan’s soil and slowing down operations for those already established in the province.
Caabay pointed out that there was no such thing as sustainable mining, emphasizing that the mining applications for companies had already expired before they could reach the required area of rehabilitated forests relative to the forests they destroyed during mining.
Furthermore, he added that other provincial governments in MIMAROPA had already passed their moratorium ordinances in previous years.
He said that, as of the moment of their committee hearing, and contrary to the legal concerns raised by the council, the moratorium ordinances in these places had not been questioned by the Supreme Court.
“We have 67 mining applications all over Palawan, not counting the old mining companies already existing. Simula po yan, simula pa noon sa Taytay, Araceli, Dumaran, Roxas hanggang Balabac, ang [scope] ng mining application is 200,000 hectares. That’s the whole of Palawan Island kapag hindi pipigilan ang mga new mining application at expansion,” Caabay said.
Limsa, on the other hand, recalled that churches and faith groups throughout the island were in a unique position to observe the effects of climate change on Palaweños through the years, having been assigned to multiple municipalities throughout their service.
He expressed his sympathies with the Palaweños who followed the Islamic faith in the south. He acknowledged that although their beliefs were different, Catholics, Muslims, and Indigenous Peoples were all affected by the physical effects of mining on Palawan’s landscape, which is why their sector was pushing for the moratorium.
With them were papers containing 40,000 physical signatures from a campaign supporting the moratorium, set up by the bishop since their announcement last year. Caabay claimed that 60,000 more signatures existed in the online campaign form.
The provincial council noted the signatures and stated that the religious sector may continue to accrue such signatures until the decision on the moratorium is finalized.
