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Kalinga folk for GMA’s resignation

BAGUIO CITY (July 26) — Various sectors in Kalinga province this week declared their support for the snowballing call for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s (GMA) resignation.

In a Manifesto of Unity, representatives of people’s organizations, non-government organizations, political and religious groups and private citizens denounced GMA for her involvement in the Gloria-gate scandal on the alleged electoral fraud and graft and corruption of her family and some officials.

The authors of the Manifesto asserted that Kalinga’s natural resources must be used and developed for its people, and not for the profit of foreign capitalists. Foreign mining firms have targeted Kalinga for exploration, and government has divulged plans to reopen the Batong Buhay Mines. Government has also approved one Application for Financial and Technical Assistance (AFTA) which covers 81,000 hectares of the province’s total land area. Six expansion applications were also approved, which covers 40,379 hectares of the province. With this, the organizations moved to vigorously campaign for the scrapping of the Mining Act of 1995, which was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court earlier this year. Government has recently approved the Magnao Mining Exploration permit.

The organizations also accused GMA of government neglect, and condemned it for the sham land reform for landless peasants in Hacienda Madrigal at Rizal town. They also denounced the stoppage of the irrigation project at Alliog River in Tabuk, which local residents depend on a living.

The organizations who authored the Manifesto include the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA)-Kalinga, Timpuyog dagiti Mannalon ti Kalinga (TMK), Samahan ng mga Mag-aaral ng Kalinga, Binodngan People’s Organization (BPO), Bayan Muna-Kalinga, Kalinga Community Council of Elders, United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), Anakbayan-Kalinga, Kalinga Bodong Council, Cordillera Bodong Administration and the Episcopal Church of the Philippines (ECP)-Tabuk.

CPA’s Markus Bangit said that these organizations still plan to firm up their ranks soon through a broad movement. He said that other organizations and sectors have expressed their interest to join. # AT Bengwayan for NORDIS

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