Just
less than a month before the much awaited and historic Mayweather-Paquiao match
in Las Vegas come April 3, 2015 Philippine time, Intex Resources Corporation on
its website last April 7, boastfully posted that, “The DENR, acting to the instruction from the Office of the President
has lifted the suspension of the ECC.” With the present policy on mining of
the Aquino government, this is somehow expected.
Well,
I would not deal here much about the Mindoro Nickel Project (MNP) for I have
already exhausted all my contentions against it in other pages and threads,
neither would I dare announce my fearless forecast on the coming Mega Fight of the
two of the greatest boxers of all time.
In
a post to the discussion thread the other day about DENR’s re-instatement of
MNP’s Environment Compliance Certificate or ECC (ECC-CO-0904-007-2721), I have
commented, “Like Manny Pacquiao, let us
go back to the training camp with this mission” coupled with the picture that
you could see on top of this entry. With the coming of the much talked about
fight, somebody might think that I am just exploiting the upcoming boxing
rumble to suit my advocacy's purpose. Or I am just using the upcoming fight to stress my
point untruthfully while in fact, I am just stating the truth of what
we, pro-environment groups and individuals are supposed to do in the
following days as a preparation for another fight for fragile ecosystems of
Mindoro.
Please
be reminded that 24 Mangyan and non-Mangyan volunteers staged a hunger
strike in front of the DENR Building in Quezon City from November 7, 2009
onward. The protest ended after 11 days until the ECC was finally revoked by
then Secretary Joselito Atienza. You may ask, “So, what Pacquiao has to do with that?” First, let us not forget
that Pacquiao and Sec. Atienza are supportive of each other’s endeavors and allies
in politics then.
Besides,
fresh from his impressive TKO win over Miguel Cotto, Pac Man visited the
secretary’s office that year and the champ’s victory parade passed through the
picket line and Pacquiao greeted them. Informed of the event, the protesters
creatively made boxing glove- shaped placards with the the advocacy messages, “Knock Out Intex” and “Pacman, help us stop mining in Mindoro!”,
among other messages as plea of support from the triumphant Filipino boxer who suffered
his lost from Darlene Antonino-Custodio two years after. Custodio got more than
64% of the total votes for the First District of Cotabato against the People’s
Champ for the congressional position in 2007.
The
formerly known as “Kid Kulafu” (I am mentioning this taking the risk of being
accused of promoting the upcoming movie of Buboy Villar), just days after the
protest in front of the DENR Office, in November 21, 2009, Pacquiao confirmed that
he would run again for the congressional seat, but this time in Sarangani
province where he eventually won.
In
fact, on that particular instance during the protest in front of the DENR’s
office, there was a Manifesto of Appeal to CongressManny that we can read in
full text in this link.
Another
fight is on for those who stood firm, like local officials and the Mangyans,
and the people of Mindoro in general.
Yes,
like Manny Pacquiao….
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(Photo; Roslyn
Arayata)
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