Indigenous Rights and Mining in the Philippines

Abstract

Abstract The Philippines is one of the few countries that has introduced comprehensive legislation which aims to recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples, including in their interaction with extractive industry. At the same time, its national government has used military force to supress Indigenous resistance to mining, and sought to undermine the role of the judiciary in enforcing legal recognition of Indigenous rights. This chapter uses two case studies to illustrate the efforts of Indigenous peoples to achieve control over mining in this complex and contradictory political environment. It traces the unsuccessful efforts of Subanon peoples to stop destruction of a sacred mountain by a Canadian mining company; and the success, to date, of B’laan peoples in halting development of one of Asia’s largest undeveloped copper orebodies, Tampakan, drawing on support from sympathetic state institutions and civil society.