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“It takes a village to raise a child”, says an African proverb. To some people that may sound like a cliché; but when I got to ask to write something about my experience of the partnership in the PMPI that proverb came to mind like an AHA experience.

As applied in PMPI, it always takes the contribution of the whole network to raise one good member.

After six months in PMPI, as a new member of the secretariat, (and I don’t claim being good) I have known many a good PMPI member. By hindsight I can understand now why we say something like “the primacy of the clusters”. In this regard, the term “cluster” is neither a “faceless” nor “nameless” entity because I can put faces or names on this word. My encounters with PMPI members had been a lesson in humility. I felt like that child being raised by a village (in our case, the network) on how to do advocacy work, developmental engagements and the multiversity of putting into practice that “Misereor turbam” which

the man Jesus experienced when he saw the “crowd… like a sheep without a shepherd”.

I felt the sincerity of PMPI members in taking to heart their mandate of serving the poorest of the poor; of uniting one’s voice to the cries of the powerless; of indomitably pursuing the cause of the marginalized; and of bringing to the center of discourse

the concerns of those from the peripheries. I am humbled by the experience of meeting and knowing cluster point persons who on top of what their respective organizations mandate them to do have, time and again, manifested generosity of spirit by going the extra mile of leading the cluster and animating the members in embracing our thematic concerns. It is indeed

heartwarming to witness that even in the midst of the proverbial “limited resource setting” (called the Philippine situation), almost all of our partners find themselves in selflessly transcending what the call of a job or organizational mandate demands

and embracing what “Misereor” really means – compassion to the people.

Despite all the ups and downs in the partnership I can now say “It’s more fun in PMPI”. And I am not talking about parking a boat or any of the campaign pitch to promote tourism in the Philippines. With the variety of our engagements to make

developments, and hopefully genuine peace, happen in our country, truly there is joy despite the struggles. The partnership is alive and is happening.

I remember a line from the participants in the “National Conversation on Stewardship, Faith and Development: Stewardship is Partnership”. We practice stewardship as we work in partnership. We live out partnership as we become “stewards to

one another”. We are stewards of communities. It feels good to be in the learning curve, like a child learning, of knowing what community building is, and what partnership is about. To my mentors among the cluster point persons and SoS point

persons, my gratitude to you! There is joy like a child to learn the first few words: We are PMPI!

We are PMPIby Fr. Oliver Castor, CSsR

Point of View

The Partnership Editorial Board and StaffYolanda Esguerra

Editor-in-Chief

Oliver Castor Candy HidalgoPrimo MorilloAssociate Editors

George Oribiana Danyalyn Lazara Managing Editor Circulation Manager

The Partnership is published by the Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc.

with offices at Unit 204 Pacific Century Tower

1472-1476 Quezon AvenueBgy. South Triangle,

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Congress champions re-file AMMB LEGISLATIVE allies of SOS-Yamang Bayan, a network of organizations working for the passage of the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB), re-filed the measure that seeks to redesign the framework of the Philippine mining industry and, in the process, repeal the Mining Act of 1995. Senator Sergio Osmeña and Representatives Teddy Brawner-Baguilat, Kaka Bag-ao, Carlos Padilla, Eleandro Madrona, Rufus Rodriguez, Maximo Rodriguez, Walden Bello and Barry Gutierrez sponsored Senate Bill No. 43 and House Bill No. 984, respectively. “The AMMB is our solution to the concerns raised by mining-affected communities and local

government units on mining. This bill looks at environmental, health and social safeguards, and at the same time, guarantees mining revenues for local and national government units and royalties to indigenous peoples”, said Ifugao Rep. Baguilat. “Now contrary to the claim of the mining sector, AMMB is not an anti-mining bill—we are proposing a policy that will be more responsive to the needs of host communities, sensitive to the environment, and that will yield economic development”, he added. SOS-Yamang Bayan Network, a multi-stakeholder coalition that pushes for the enactment of the bill welcomed the

filing of AMMB. The network held its second assembly on July 1 and 2 in Quezon City to consolidate and renew its campaign to push the bill under the 16th Congress. “We believe that our legislators and the PNoy [Benigno Aquino III] administration should certify AMMB as urgent to prevent more disastrous impacts of large scale mining to indigenous communities and rural poor dependent on natural resources and to the environment” said Erwin Quiñones, SOS-Yamang Bayan Network coordinator. Quinones added that under the present law, the mining industry allows big foreign and local mining companies to exploit our mineral resources at will, yet leaving communities divided and underdeveloped and which traditional livelihoods directly dependent on natural resources destroyed. “Worst, their basic rights were even undermined by these greedy corporations, resulting to numerous cases of human rights violations,” he added. /TP

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AMMB not EO 79, proposed mining fiscal regimeDESPITE the issuance of Executive Order (EO) 79, SOS-Yamang Bayan Network still believes that it is only a piecemeal solution to the flaws in Republic Act 7942, also known as the Mining Act of 1995. EO 79, issued by President Benigno Aquino III last 2011, was only the response of the administration to the address the current mining issues and the network further explains that the pronouncement of the government to come up with a new mining fiscal regime only responds to the financial or economic side of the industry, when what is needed is a paradigm shift.

“The current mining law has been used as a legal argument for different forms of injustices against mining-affected communities and institutionalizing the control of large corporations of our natural resources. There’s no other time to pass the alternative minerals management bill but NOW. We hope this new Congress realized that the issue of mining is a matter of life and death for a lot of rural and indigenous communities”, Judy Pasimio, coordinator of Purple Action for Indigenous Women Rights, explained. A few days before President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address,

SOS-Yamang Bayan and other green groups picketed in front of the House of Representatives where Baguilat, Bag-ao, and Gutierrez joined them to push for the AMMB, among other environmental bills. PMPI is a member of National Executive Council of the SOS-Yamang Bayan Network. /TP

Cover Story

About the Cover: Ka Badong of Maporac Aeta Organization (MAO), a member of PMPI Central Luzon cluster, leads the symbolic ritual, with Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat, for the AMMB in front of the House of Representatives last July.

PMPI calls for pork abolitionDESPITE the announcement of President Benigno Aquino III that Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) will be abolished, PMPI called on for the total abolition of the pork barrel system in the legislative system and will urge Aquino to stop any form of development fund allocations for the legislators. “It is an open secret that pork barrel are being used by the executive branch to extract support from legislators. The legislators, in turn, having blanket authority to use the pork exact favors from his/her constituency by playing godfather to his/her constituents,” said Yoly Esguerra, national coordinator of the network.

4 National News Tribal elder, son killed in another mining-related violence in Tampakan, South Cotabato

Bong Fulong means elder or chief in B’laan; Anteng Freay is the head claimant of the Ancestral Domain Territory (ADT) of the Atbol Blaan territory. Majority of the B’laans oppose the Tampakan mining project. “This is very sad. This is what happens when the government turns a blind eye on the apparent relation of violence and mining in Tampakan. How many massacres will it take to make our government act on this?”, said Fr. Oliver Castor,

project officer of the Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI). It could be remembered that a similar occurrence dubbed as the Capion massacre happened October last year. In a congressional hearing about the killing of Juvy Capion and her two sons, Kiblawan (Davao del Sur) Mayor Marivic Diamante admitted that Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) is providing funds for the operations of the military within the towns of Kiblawan, Tampakan and

Columbio. The testimony of then newly-appointed commander of the AFP’s 1002nd Brigade, Col. Norman Marcos Flores further corroborated Diamante’s admission. “The statements of Mayor Diamante and Col. Flores clearly link the mining company to the violence of security forces against those who are opposing the project,” Castor asserted. Meanwhile, Rose Trajano of the Philippine Alliance Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) is wary that the mistakes done to the Capion massacre will happen again. “The scene of the crime must be preserved. The PNP-SOCO and the CHR must be able to independently investigate what really happened there. We appeal to AFP Human Rights Office chief Col. Parayno to ensure that the military will respect due process and rule of law,” she said. “The military operations are still on-going as of this moment in Bong Mal territory. We call on the AFP to immediately stop this to prevent more human rights violations and loss of lives,“ Castor appealed. Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez, together with SAC, wrote a letter that day to request a meeting with Eastern Mindanao Commander Lt. Gen. Rainier Cruz to learn more about the incident and to hold it publicly. /TP

SUSPECTED members of the Philippine military strafed the house of Bong Fulong Anteng Freay with gunfire at about 5:00 AM of August 23, instantly killing him and his son, Victor Freay, according to reports from the Social Action Center (SAC) of Marbel in South Cotabato.

Likewise, PMPI emphasized that as COA report verified that the pork barrel is a source of corruption. Members of the network also expressed their disgust over the pork barrel system. Baby Llavan, one of PMPI co-conveners, pointed out that the so-called PDAF, another term for pork barrel, overlaps the political dichotomy, transgressing the doctrine of separation of powers of a democratic government. Fr. Edwin Gariguez, from CBCP-NASSA and another PMPI co-convener, opined that the abolition of pork barrel will not be just an administrative matter; and requires a radical action and entails political will. /TP

5 Cluster NewsRadyo Sagada launches School on AirRADYO SAGADA and the Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Program (CHARM) of the Department of Agriculture initiated a coffee production course for farmers of Mountain Province. The project, which ran from February to June 2013, was con-ceived to provide agricultural tech-nology to farmers beyond the four walls of seminar halls. About 85 farmers, who for-mally enrolled in the school on air, graduated last June from the said project.

Farmers took their lessons every Monday to Wednesday and every Friday from 5:00 to 5:30 in the afternoon. The lessons were scheduled for three months to deliver informa-tion according to a module designed in a gradated lesson plan. Like in a classroom, quizzes

were conducted after every specific lesson where questions were aired and the answers were gathered on field by the community coordina-tors of the CHARM Project. After the success of this course, Radyo Sagada and the CHARM will soon launch the sec-ond season of the school on air. /TP

Panay cluster organizes forum on sustainable agriculture

Participants attentively listen to the one of the lectures during the Sustainable Agriculture and Lifestyle Forum.

THIRTY one representatives composed of Panay clus-ter members, key leaders of partner com-munities and i n d i v i d u a l s actively partic-ipated last July 24 to 25 on the Cluster Orien-tation – Semi-nar and Forum on Farmer-Led S u s t a i n a b l e Agriculture and Lifestyle. The activity was conducted to orient participants about farm-er-led sustainable agriculture on the MASIPAG way of farming, height-en their awareness, and impress the need to practice healthy lifestyle in their own family and respective or-ganization.

The one and a half day sem-inar tackled topics on the impor-tance of sustainable organic agricul-ture, urban gardening, and the value of a healthy lifestyle and eating local and organic food. Resource persons included two MASIPAG farmer-trainers and a practicing medical doctor. /TP

Davao cluster meet held, plans to re-echo CC-DRR trainingIN A MEETING HELD last August 19, the Davao cluster is planning to conduct two-day re-echo training on climate change and disaster risk reduction and management. The cluster seeks to create a sub-cluster on CC-DRR to work on the module and to organize the con-duct of the cluster-level CC-DRR training. Participants during the meeting took note the crafted CC-DRR being endorsed to the City Development Council which will amend the City Comprehensive De-velopment Plan to make it adaptive to climate change. They also stressed the im-portance of shifting the current city disaster plan because its direction on information for resiliency, relief and rehabilitation are more “reac-tive than proactive”. The proposed cluster-level CC-DRR training is scheduled on September 12 to 13. /TP

6 Anti-Mining Campaign A VIDEO CLIP of the violent dispersal of an anti-mining human barricade in Homonhon Island, Eastern Samar drew in and gained popularity online as it displays the brutality of the industry against opposing communities. “The widespread support of netizens gives us high morale as it proves that a lot of people will not stay silent while some greedy miners are blatantly violating human rights and wantonly raping our island. It is like hearing them say that we are not alone,” said Billy Abueme, a Homonhon-based community leader. The mobile phone video recording of the incident was uploaded on the Facebook page of Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI). “So far, the video clip was shared by almost 700 Facebook users and reached more than 65,000 people online. To help the people of Homonhon, we are persuading more people to share and spread it

online and offline,” PMPI Advocacy Officer Primo Morillo stated. Abueme, who is the president of the Homonhon Environment Rescuers Organization (HERO), explained that they are in the process of consulting their volunteer-lawyers and will soon file cases in court and at the Commission on Human Rights. He also mentioned that they are considering filing a case in the PNP-SOSIA against the FEMJEG security agency as they have identified two of their personnel involved in the violent incident. “In fact,” he furthered, “one of them was seen by witnesses as the one who fired his pistol towards our member holding the cellphone recording the incident.” “If Mount Sinai mining thought that this incident will weaken our movement, they are dead wrong. It only further strengthened our resolve that we are right in fighting their mining operations. And because of their

brutality, more people are helping us to stop all mining operations in Homonhon.” Abueme concluded. Homonhon is a historical site as it is recognized by the government as the exact spot where navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his men first landed in the country on March 16, 1521. /TP

Video on Homonhon mining violence goes viral online; victims mull filing of several cases

Priest hits SSS investment in Philex, urges labor groups to campaign against it

News reports showed that the SSS invested more than P18 billion, which is equal to a 20.58 percent of the shares, in Philex. The activist priest, who is working as a project officer for Philippine Misereor Partnership Incorporated (PMPI), also appealed to labor groups “to do something about this as they themselves know

the harm being done by the mining industry against the livelihood, health and even lives of their fellow Filipinos”. /TP

OLIVER CASTOR is a Redempto-rist priest and, as an employee of a civil society organization, he regu-larly pays taxes and other govern-ment-mandated dues. He was, however, shocked to read in the news last week that the money he is contributing to the So-cial Security System (SSS) is being invested to Philex Mining Corpora-

Online petition gets close to 10,000 signaturesTHE petition initiated by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo a few weeks ago on change.org to persuade President Benigno Aqui-no III to cancel the permits given to Sagittarius Mining Inc. (SMI) for the mining project in Tampa-kan, South Cotabato already got barely 10,000 signatures. As of this writing, the pe-tition, which can be viewed at change.org/tampakan only needs 29 more signatures so it can be sent to Aquino in Malacañang. Pabillo, who is also the chairperson of the CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action (NAS-SA), said that the Social Action Center (SAC) of Marbel through the help of the Dioceses of Kidap-awan, Marbel and Digos have al-ready gathered 170,000 signatures from the areas surrounding the site. /TP

7 Thematic ConcernsPMPI conducts two thematic confabsPMPI Task Forces on Climate Change-Disaster Risk Reduction and Management and on Peace initiated two national conferences on the said thematic concerns for its partners and members last July and August, respec-tively. The CC-DRR Na-tional Conference, which was held last July 24 to 26, anchored on the theme “Bracing for the Challeng-es of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Philippines” sought to enhance the knowledge of PMPI members on di-saster risk reduction and management and climate change adaptation and to enable them to participate actively in their respective areas. Discussions were primarily led by Center for Disaster Preparedness. Among the topics discussed during the con-ference were the concepts of different hazards and disasters; the salient fea-tures of Republic Act (RA) No. 9729 or the Climate Change Act of 2009 and RA 10121 or the Philip-pine Disaster and Risk Re-duction and Management Act of 2010; and basic con-cepts on disaster risk re-duction and management,

Participants of the Climate Change-Disaster Risk Reduction (CC-DRR) National Conference worked on one of their activities during the conference.

Participants of the National Peace Conference posed for pictorial after the awarding of certificates.climate change adaptation

and community-based disaster risk reduction and management ap-proach. Meanwhile, the National Peace Conference, which happened

last August 22 to 24 and facilitated by Sulong CARHRIHL, provided the participants the knowledge on topics relative to the theme “Un-

standing Armed Conflicts in the Philippines, Hu-man Rights and Peace”. Lectures and in-puts of the said confer-ence came from partners, such as Sulong CARHRI-HL, Mindanao People’s Caucus, and Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute. During the con-ference, key concepts on human rights and adher-ence to the agreements on the international human rights law (IHL); basic concepts of peace and peace building; impacts of armed conflicts in the communities; and the current updates on the ongoing peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Lib-eration Front (MILF) and the National Democratic Front (NDF). C l u s t e r - l e v e l planning was also done during the said confer-ences to calibrate the ac-tions of the clusters to the national plan drafted by the task forces and the na-tional secretariat.

Participants of both train-ings were expected to re-echo what they had learned to their respective clusters and organizations. /TP

The People have spoken; Millions march to Luneta

News and EventsThousands flocked towards the Quirino Grandstand, Manila last Au-gust 26 to voice out their opposition against the controversial pork barrel fund which involved a number of legislators. Reports said that members of the Philippine Congress allegedly allocated their Pri-ority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the other term for the pork, to fake non-governmental organizations (NGOs) connected to detained Janet Lim-Napoles.

PMPI said on a statement that it is pushing for the total abolition of the pork barrel system in the legislative system and will urge Pres-ident Benigno Aquino III to stop any forms of development fund allocations for the legislators. (Photo by Rommel Yamzon of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines.)

Former media researcher is the new RIMSPMPI National Secretariat welcomed George Oribiana as its new research and information management staff (RIMS) last July.

Oribiana previously worked as a program researcher of the News and Public Affairs De-partment of GMA Network Inc. for three years before deciding to join the Secretariat.

He took up his mass communication degree at Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM, where he was an active student leader back then. /TP

The PMPI Anti-Mining Campaign Unit conducted last June 26 to 28 a training on information technology and social media. The thrust of the training was to improve the use of technology and social media among the people in the sites of struggle to further promote their advoca-cies.

At the end of the training, participants signed a memo-randum of agreement and they were provided with a lap-top, mobile modem, USB flash disk, and a digital camera to help them in practicing the skills they acquired through the said training. A Facebook group for the participants dubbed as the PMPI Social Media Collective was also cre-ated for better coordination. /TP

PMPI holds IT training

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