The Church and communities together in protest

The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) is a collective of Catholic religious, missionary organisations working in the rural areas of the Philippines. RMP continues to speak out against mining in the Philippines and advocate for the rights of indigenous people who are known collectively as the Lumads.

Sister Patricia Fox is an Australian missionary and the former National Coordinator of the RMP. Sr Pat has been living and working with the poor and vulnerable in the Philippines for 27 years and was recently held and detained by the Philippine Government for joining ‘political activities and anti-government demonstrations’.

To find out more about Sr Pat click here and here

‘Mining interests in ancestral domains have resulted in the displacement of Lumad. One form of this displacement is the destruction of their environment where they get their food and livelihood, practice their traditions and culture and bury their dead. The impact of mining on water bodies, soil, forests and biodiversity within the ancestral domain of the Lumad denies them the right to life.’

(Missionary group decries continued militarization, abduction of rights workers in Mindanao – Sparks Vol 48 no 4; October to December 2017; Official Publication of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines)

You can follow the work of the RMP on Facebook here

You can find more information here

The Catholic bishops of the Philippines

Father Edwin Gariguez is a Catholic priest on Mindoro Island in the Philippines who has been fighting a proposed nickel mine because of the impacts it would have on the island’s indigenous people and biodiversity.

‘We really need to take on the challenge to protect the environment as one global issue. We need to work together to protect the earth. It’s the only one we’ve got’.

Click here to read his interview.