By Maria Elena Ang
The indigenous people of the Cordillera of Northern Luzon in the Philippines — the Kalingas, Kankanaeys, Sagadans, Bontocs, Ifugaos and Tingguians, collectively called Igorots by the Spanish conquerors — centuries ago fiercely resisted Spanish colonialism and retreated to the mountains rather than submit to the yoke of the cross and the sword. With their bare hands and minimum tools, they carved the famous rice terraces from the mountainsides.
In the mid-1970s, President Ferdinand Marcos plunged the country into dictatorship and declared martial law. The International Monetary Fund-World Bank prescribed an anti-people development plan. Part of this involved the construction of the Chico Dam to provide big business with electricity.
The dam's projected lifespan was only 50 years. For the indigenous people, the dam meant that whole villages would be drowned, their age-old culture, sacred sites, productive land and way of life permanently submerged under water.
The people began fighting a giant. They began with communal discussions and decision-making, which is a very democratic tribal tradition. It sparked a unique protest action.
Igorot women marched to the campsite of the engineering battalion assigned to build the dam. Baring their breasts, the women dismantled the engineers' tents and equipment. The women's act of tearing their blouses, in the indigenous tradition, signalled to the intruders that the people felt humiliated and angered by the project.
Numerous petitions to government agencies and the IMF-WB, and other mass actions, soon followed until one day a leader of the anti-dam movement was gunned down in his home by government soldiers. This heinous act only encouraged more action and support, not just from the rest of the country, but internationally.
The Cordillera tribes decided to defend themselves from the armed might of the Philippine military. The IMF-WB was forced to retreat from this project — a world first against this giant, used to having its way in small countries.
But today, an aggressive development plan is again being foisted on the Filipino people.
It began during the regime of President Corazon Aquino. US support and media hype lulled people and failed to alert them to her militarisation of rural areas. Aquino's Department of Environment and Natural Resources, responsible for protecting and conserving the environment, sponsored seminars on investment opportunities for foreign mining and logging companies.
The IMF-WB during General Fidel Ramos' presidency called for an overhaul of the economy to enable the country to pay the foreign debt incurred under Marcos. Ramos' Philippine Development Plan 2000 dictated the liberalisation of trade and opening up of the country as demanded by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
The government pushed through the Philippines Mining Act of 1995, which gives the go-ahead for the exploitation of nearly a quarter of the country by foreign mining companies. It promised mining firms tax holidays, timber and water rights, and the right to repatriate 100% of their capital and profits.
Australian multinational conglomerates Western Mining and Arimco were the first to sign agreements under this act. One thing is sure: mining firms stand to gain most while the environment and the indigenous people will gain the least in the trade-offs.
[Adapted from a presentation to a "Filipino Fiesta" in Sydney sponsored by Migrante and Action for World Development.]