IN a display of solidarity with local government officials, environmentalists and clergy joined hands and led thousands of rallyists from Oriental and Occidental Mindoro against a mining company on March 14.
A public hearing on the proposed mining project of Intex Resources Philippines, Inc. was aborted Thursday in Pola, Oriental Mindoro when thousands of people showed up to protest.
Police estimated a caravan of about 200 vehicles and 7,000 people in attendance.
Fr. Edwin Gariguez of Oriental Mindoro’s Mangyan Mission assailed Intex Resources for pushing with the mining project despite a provincial ordinance disallowing mining activities in the province for 25 years.
“The corporate irresponsibility of Intex Resources is clearly obvious. They wanted to push their project with our fragile forest ecosystem, our critical watershed, and ancestral domain of the Mangyan indigenous peoples despite the strong opposition of the people,” Gariguez said.
Local officials led by Vice Governor Estela Aceron , Provincial Legal Officer Atty. Lorebelle Tanyag, and Mayors Alfredo Ortega of Victoria, Oriental Mindoro, and Godofredo Mintu of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, served a Cease and Desist Order (CDO) implementing the mining moratorium of the province.
“We are ready to go at all cause to implement and enforce our moratorium ordinance against mining,” Vice-Governor Aceron was quoted as saying.
Both Mindoro provinces have ordinances that ban large-scale mining operations in the island.
Meanwhile, anti-mining advocates praised the strong solidarity and sense of community of the people from Oriental and Occidental Mindoro in their opposition to the mining project.
“Today, 7,000 strong Mindorenos erased the line that separates Oriental and Occidental Mindoro as they displayed solidarity and a strong sense of community against Intex Resources’ almost ten years of attempts to sway local communities in their favor,” Jaybee Garganera, Coordinator of Alyansa Tigil Mina, an anti-mining advocacy group, said in a statement.
He praised the courage of the local officials in asserting their local autonomy and in protecting the ‘general welfare’ of the people.
“With the poor track record of large-scale mining companies in the country and a weak national policy on environmental and social safeguards, we need the initiatives of local government and communities to come together and fight against a highly centralized government and flawed national policy on mining that retards efforts to attain sustainable development,” Garganera said.
Opposition to the project of Intex Resources is led by the multi-sectoral movement called Alyansa Laban sa Mina (ALAMIN) and the Apostolic Vicariate of Palawan together with other national and international anti-mining advocates.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Foundress of Little Sisters of the Poor to be canonized soon
THE foundress of a religious congregation for women who worked for the elderly poor is set to be canonized in a solemn ceremony on October 11, 2009 in Rome.
Jeanne Jugan, a Frenchwoman who founded a congregation called Little Sisters of the Poor will be elevated to sainthood together with four other blesseds including Fr. Damien, the leper of Molokai.
The Little Sisters of the Poor has two communities here in the Philippines, one is Pasay and another in Bolinao, Pangasinan where the novitiate is located.
“We are very happy. It is an affirmation of our vocation, of our work, of the way [to holiness which] our foundress ha[d] shown us. And also we are happy for the elderly people in the world, because she is a saint for the elderly, a special patroness,” said Mother Imelda Primosh, the superior of San Lorenzo Ruiz Home in Lancaster St., Pasay City.
Primosh, an American, said a delegation from the Philippines will go to Rome in October to witness the canonization.
“There will be two from each community of Pasay and Bolinao, one postulant, one novice, three volunteers, and maybe two priest-friends,” she said.
The nun said more than a thousand are expected to participate in the event from all their communities all over the world.
“We heard that India will send more than a hundred in delegation. Surely, countries that are closer [to Rome] will send more,” she said.
A local celebration is slated on October 24 with a thanksgiving mass at the Manila Cathedral to be led by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales. The Papal Nuncio is also expected to grace the event as well as other bishops and priests.
On October 25, birthday of Jeanne Jugan, the Sisters will open their convent to friends and benefactors for a day-long festivities and thanksgiving for the grace received.
Caring for the elderly poor
Of French origin, the congregation was founded in 1839 to care for the elderly poor who have nothing to eat and nowhere to go. The Little Sisters are now spread in 32 countries in five continents. In the Philippines the first community, the San Lorenzo Ruiz Home for the Elderly, was established in Pasay in January 2004. It currently houses 43 elderly residents.
A second that can accommodate 60 residents was built in Pangasinan in 2008. A formation house for novices and postulants was also built in the same site. The community now has three novices and three postulants.
Although the congregation is new in the country, it has already a large number of Filipino Sisters.
Primosh said their Filipino vocations were either migrants or overseas Filipino workers who entered abroad.
Sr. Ofelia Ripasa, one of the two Filipinas who are currently assigned at San Lorenzo Home said she met the sisters while working in Hong Kong.
“I was a volunteer to the Home of the Sisters. I saw the work they were doing. That’s how I was encouraged in my vocation,” she explained.
“Those who have entered abroad are mostly working there. There are a few who are migrants, but many of them were overseas workers,” Primosh added.
“We have the export quality,” Ripasa quipped. “Our Filipino vocations are not rooted here,” she added.
The six sisters in San Lorenzo Home are a mixture of five nationalities: two Filipinas who entered abroad, one American, one Sri Lankan, one British and one Singaporean.
But with their patroness in heaven and a formation house in place, the community is hopeful local vocations will come.
Jeanne Jugan, a Frenchwoman who founded a congregation called Little Sisters of the Poor will be elevated to sainthood together with four other blesseds including Fr. Damien, the leper of Molokai.
The Little Sisters of the Poor has two communities here in the Philippines, one is Pasay and another in Bolinao, Pangasinan where the novitiate is located.
“We are very happy. It is an affirmation of our vocation, of our work, of the way [to holiness which] our foundress ha[d] shown us. And also we are happy for the elderly people in the world, because she is a saint for the elderly, a special patroness,” said Mother Imelda Primosh, the superior of San Lorenzo Ruiz Home in Lancaster St., Pasay City.
Primosh, an American, said a delegation from the Philippines will go to Rome in October to witness the canonization.
“There will be two from each community of Pasay and Bolinao, one postulant, one novice, three volunteers, and maybe two priest-friends,” she said.
The nun said more than a thousand are expected to participate in the event from all their communities all over the world.
“We heard that India will send more than a hundred in delegation. Surely, countries that are closer [to Rome] will send more,” she said.
A local celebration is slated on October 24 with a thanksgiving mass at the Manila Cathedral to be led by Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales. The Papal Nuncio is also expected to grace the event as well as other bishops and priests.
On October 25, birthday of Jeanne Jugan, the Sisters will open their convent to friends and benefactors for a day-long festivities and thanksgiving for the grace received.
Caring for the elderly poor
Of French origin, the congregation was founded in 1839 to care for the elderly poor who have nothing to eat and nowhere to go. The Little Sisters are now spread in 32 countries in five continents. In the Philippines the first community, the San Lorenzo Ruiz Home for the Elderly, was established in Pasay in January 2004. It currently houses 43 elderly residents.
A second that can accommodate 60 residents was built in Pangasinan in 2008. A formation house for novices and postulants was also built in the same site. The community now has three novices and three postulants.
Although the congregation is new in the country, it has already a large number of Filipino Sisters.
Primosh said their Filipino vocations were either migrants or overseas Filipino workers who entered abroad.
Sr. Ofelia Ripasa, one of the two Filipinas who are currently assigned at San Lorenzo Home said she met the sisters while working in Hong Kong.
“I was a volunteer to the Home of the Sisters. I saw the work they were doing. That’s how I was encouraged in my vocation,” she explained.
“Those who have entered abroad are mostly working there. There are a few who are migrants, but many of them were overseas workers,” Primosh added.
“We have the export quality,” Ripasa quipped. “Our Filipino vocations are not rooted here,” she added.
The six sisters in San Lorenzo Home are a mixture of five nationalities: two Filipinas who entered abroad, one American, one Sri Lankan, one British and one Singaporean.
But with their patroness in heaven and a formation house in place, the community is hopeful local vocations will come.
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