The chair of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights has spoken out against the OceanGold mine construction that is threatening Indigenous residents of Didipio—the focus of a Cultural Survival Global Response campaign. “It’s time to put an end to this,” said Leila M. De Lima. The ongoing conflict escalated into violence when more than 100 Philippine National Police officers used teargas and truncheons to break up a human barricade on October 1, 2009.
The violence ended when the police contingent was forced to pull out in response to a temporary restraining order. Some residents who joined the barricade were from nearby villages of Dinkidi Hill in Sitio Dinauyan, which is home to at least 100 families, where the proposed site for the mine tailings dam is located. The latest estimates show that over a hundred indigenous families have been evicted from their homes this year (though the demolition of houses near the mine is currently on hold). OceanaGold has also installed fences and checkpoints on public thoroughfares restricting the free movement of residents.
“We intend to carry out a top-level investigation in Didipio,” De Lima said of the barricade incident. “If the Commission finds that there is truth to allegations that the police conducted the operation for the private benefit of OceanaGold and not for the welfare of the public-at-large, if the police contingent was indeed armed, in violation of protocols on forced evictions, and if the force that was employed was unnecessary and excessive, I will make sure that not only must the residents be restored to their homes, but members of the demolition team and their superiors will be held administratively and criminally liable.”
Read more about De Lima's visit to Didipio.
Read more about the Didipio Mine Campaign.
