Subanen women march for the environment and food; strongly oppose mining

Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) expressed solidarity with more than a hundred Subanen women, marching in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur on Tuesday to spread awareness on environmental protection and food sovereignty, and to warn the public about the various mining applications in the region.

According to Judy Pasimio, Over All Coordinator of  LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights), the women’s march, dubbed as “Martsa sa Kababayen-an para sa Kinaiyahan”, “calls for the government to fulfill its obligations to protect the environment, provide basic social services such as health and  water; and ensure that the indigenous women and their communities are able to produce food, without threats from mining corporations who have business interests within their ancestral domain.” 

Pasimio, who also sits as a member of the ATM Council of Leaders (COL), added that “the march is also a show of solidarity among Subanen women, as well as other Indigenous women from other Lumad communities, that they stand together in fighting for their land, food and their rights.”

After marching around the town center of Midsalip, the Subanen women, through cultural presentations and talks, shared perspectives and showed their firm opposition against the entry of mining. 

“Women are against mining because it destroys everything that the community needs - source of food, land, water, and forests; their livelihood; the environment, which the indigenous women protect, as it also protects them from disasters,” Pasimio said.

“Mining kills the spirituality that is tied to the indigenous groups’ environment. It kills their sense of community, their identity as indigenous women, which is intertwined with their land,” Pasimio said.

“And literally, mining kills those who assert for their rights, the indigenous leaders, the land rights defenders,” she added, decrying the killings and human rights violations against community leaders. 

Subanen leader Wilma Tero-Mangilay, who is the Coordinator of Midsalip Subanen Ministry, Inc. (MSMI-TUPUSUMI), sums up the impact of mining:  “Kapag sinisira si Inang Kalikasan masisira din ang lahat ng buhay na binibigay niya - buhay ng katubigan, buhay ng iba’t ibang halaman, buhay ng ibat-ibang insekto, kayahupan, at higit sa lahat ang buhay ng tao.  Hindi tayo mabubuhay kong wala si Inang Kalikasan.” (When Mother Earth is destroyed, our waters, plants, insects and animals, and most of all the life of a person, is also destroyed. We won’t be able to live without Mother Earth.”

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