Php 70.00 Vol. 45 No. 5 • MAY 2011 - IMPACT Magazine Online!

NEWS
FEATURES
Housing tops tsunami evacuees’ worries
JAPAN, May 2, 2011―Evacuees from the
earthquake and tsunami, many of them
old people, are living with anxiety of not
knowing where they will live and the more
pressing and simple needs of finding hot
water to bathe.
Most people who lost their homes to
the March 11 disaster in northern Japan
remain in evacuation centers in schools,
gymnasiums and town halls.
Kiyoko Inomata, 85, lost her family
and home in Ishinomaki. She lives for
the time being in a school gym with other
evacuees, but officials have announced
that the schools must be cleared out by
the middle of May so that normal student
life can resume.
“The kids have a hard time with us
using their school, but they pitch in and
help with the cleaning,” said Inomata.
Temporary housing is being put up
around town, but there may not be enough
ready by the deadline and even if people
get into the housing, they are expected to
move out within two years.
“I doubt they’ll throw us out,” said
Inomata. “We old folks, though, are in no
shape to go hunting for a place to stay. Where
can I go? I want to stay in the area.”
Inomata said she had heard of a small
apartment that might suit her, but the rent alone
would take almost her entire pension.
Among the services for evacuees
provided by the Sendai Diocesan Support
Center with on-the-ground assistance from
Caritas Japan in Ishinomaki is a hot-water
distribution at an evacuation center in the
Kadowaki Middle School.
When the first group of Caritas volunteers
arrived in the town, one of them
heard from people living in classrooms
and gyms that they had no access to hot
water during the day. They wanted to be
able to make tea, coffee and instant foods
as well as rinse out towels and clothes in
warm water.
So, the volunteers began a hot-water
distribution. Each morning, afternoon and
evening, volunteers stand under a tent outside
the school, tending big pots of boiling
water from which they ladle water into
thermos bottles that people line up to have
filled. During the three sessions, they give
out more than 700 liters each day.
At one end of the counter volunteers
also provide cups of coffee, tea or hot chocolate
as well as candy. Children who do not
realize that grown-ups were once children
who did the same thing sneak candy when
they think no one is watching.
Hiroshi Ono, one of two supervisors
of the operation in Ishinomaki, said, “You
have to be careful when talking to the kids.
It’s natural when they act up to say, ‘I’ll
tell your parents.’ But some of them have
lost parents.”
Ono worries that once Golden Week,
a succession of national holidays that combined
with weekends and a day or two of
vacation time gives the whole nation a week
off from work and school, is over the pool
of student volunteers may dry up.
“Maybe we can get retirees to come as
volunteers,” he said. “The hot water service
is something they can do.” (UCANews)
Bin Laden's death brings momentary relief
in Pakistan, deeper problems remain
LAHORE, Pakistan, May 4,
2011—Responding to the death
of Osama bin Laden, advocates
of human rights and religious
freedom in Pakistan say the real
work of rooting out terrorism
remains to be done.
“It is a moment of relief for
many human rights activists,”
said Peter Jacob, executive
secretary of Pakistan's National
Commission for Justice and
Peace.
“There is a sense of satisfaction,
too, that someone who
believed in the death of others
is no longer there.”
But Jacob and other Pakistani
Christians worry that Bin
Laden's followers “will still try
to whip up hate campaigns for
political gain.”
He said Bin Laden's discovery
and death in the urban
area of Abottabad should be
a wake-up call to authorities.
“Coming out of a state of
denial is in everybody's interest,”
he told CNA on May 2.
“Extremism in Pakistan is not
territory-specific, nor is the
military response sufficient.
The civilian leadership has to
chalk out a road map to legal,
economic and educational reforms.”
Jacob, whose commission
promotes human rights
on behalf of Pakistan's Catholic
bishops, was initially skeptical
about the news reports of Bin
Laden's death.
“I was sitting in my office
reading the newspaper, sipping
tea. The newspaper did not have
this news as this operation was
carried out early in the morning,”
he recalled.
“A colleague of mine,
who had been sitting in front
of the TV, entered my room
and told me Osama was killed.
'Once again?' I questioned
back, as I suspected that he
was alive, because I had read
stories claiming he was dead
already.”
But the Al-Qaeda leader's
May 1 death at the hands of
U.S. special forces was no false
alarm. Instead, it was a moment
of cautious optimism.
“I think the incident will
accelerate the process of rethinking
among the Muslims
that will marginalize rigid and
violent theories in the end,”
Jacob reflected. At the same
time, “it is also feared that extremists
will target high-profile
people—as they have made it
clear through a message this
morning—and wage attacks.”
“The Christians in Pakistan,
because they face violence
in the name of religion, are
cautious about their reaction
for existential reasons,” he
observed.
He said that the Vatican's
carefully-measured message,
holding Bin Laden “gravely responsible”
for killing innocent
people, but refusing to “rejoice”
in his death, was “timely and
helpful.” Jacob also hopes that the
White House's message, explaining
that its war on terrorism is not
a fight against the religion of Islam
itself, will be translated into local
languages and be understood
among the public.
“These is local or folk
wisdom that people of Pakistan
can benefit from also,” Jacob
pointed out, quoting the words
of the 19th century Sufi Muslim
poet Mian Mohammad Bakhsh:
“Do not rejoice on the death of
an enemy, Because friends will
die too one day. Every dawn is
doomed to submerge in dusk,
And don't let glee or gloom take
the best of you away.” (CNA)
Dhaka archdiocese adds daycare center
DHAKA, May 2, 2011―Archbishop
Paulinus Costa of Dhaka
has opened the third daycare
center for disable children in
the capital city to accommodate
more vulnerable kids in Church
services.
Asha (Hope)-2 was formally
opened on April 29 in
Tejturibazar area in the center
of the city. It can look after
20 children, free of charge for
parents who cannot afford to
take care of them or who work
during the day.
About 70 participants, mostly
disabled people and their parents,
along with Church leaders
and Caritas Bangladesh officials,
Mining, from page 7
In 2010, Oceana Gold had completed a
private placement in Canada of 12,023,360
special warrants at a price of $3.50 per special
warrant for aggregate gross proceeds
of $42,081,760. The private placement
was led by Macquarie Capital Markets
Canada Ltd. and Citigroup Global Markets
Canada Inc.
2. On April 19, 2011, President Benigno
Aquino III cancelled the Financial and
Technical Assistance Agreements issued
to MBMI Resources, Inc. covering some
12,000 hectares of land in the municipalities
of Rizal, Bataraza and Narra in Southern
Palawan. MBMI Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based
mining company focused on
the exploration and development of nickel
mineral properties in the area. Palawan is
a small island ecosystem and mining will
definitely put the communities in real danger
and will threaten the extremely rich biodiversity
of the island. Indigenous peoples in
Palawan were also surprised last year when
they were given a permit to mine despite
the opposition of communities.
Recently, a radio commentator and
environment advocate opposing mining
in Palawan was gunned down. This provided
a protest action with the civil society
launching the initiative to gather 10 million
signatures to ask the government to stop
mining in biodiversity rich province.
3. On April 20, 2011, Mindoro Resources
Inc., a Canadian junior company
based in Edmonton and listed in Toronto
Stock Exchange announced that it will commence
the Pre-Feasibility study for Agata
attended the opening ceremony.
“The center is disabledfriendly.
We’ve set it out in such
a way that the kids can easily
use chairs and tables, electric
switches and toilets. It will
also help them to dress, eat and
clean tables by themselves”,
said Binoy Rodrigues, 41, the
center director.
The center, which was set
up with personal efforts from
Holy Cross auxiliary bishop
Theotonius Gomes of Dhaka,
is set to give parents a break
from the challenges of family
life as they struggle with the
disabilities of their children.
“My autistic and physically
disabled son doesn’t listen
to us and often gets angry
with us. I hope the center will
help him improve and become
peaceful,” said Catholic housewife
Anjona Gomes, 45.
Muslim Rejaul Karim, 50,
said he was happy because my
disabled daughter can now be
kept near his residence, just two
minutes walking distance. He
used to drop his daughter Farjana
Karim, 15, at the Church-run
Father Pinos Dropping Center
in Mirpur, on the northern
outskirts of Dhaka.
A Muslim mother, Amena Begum,
said the Church-run daycare
center is making a difference.
Nickel Project in Surigao, Mindanao. In July
2010, Mindoro Resources was granted 2.1
Canadian dollars by the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) to support this project.
However, the Environmental and Social
Review Summary of 2008 did not address
the concern that the area for mining
is part of the Lake Mainit watershed, the
4th largest lake and home to 31 coastal
villages. There are also allegations that the
company secured the needed consent of the
indigenous peoples in a highly questionable
manner.
With the above-given examples, and
more similar cases all over the country, we
affirm the findings in the research study
conducted by The Canadian Center for the
Study of Resource Conflict in 2009, that
the Canadian mining companies had been
prominently involved in environmental degradation,
unethical behavior and in propagating
conflicts among communities.
Also, the aggressive pursuit of mining
investments has necessarily spawned
numerous human rights abuses, especially
against individuals and communities opposed
to mining. The abuse has included
both physical and psychological harassment.
A number of anti-mining advocates
have also been killed. As of February 2011,
at least seven (7) anti-mining activists have
sacrificed their lives in defense of their land
and natural resources. One incident of this
kind happened in Sibuyan, Romblon, now
a Canadian-owned mining concession,
Altai Resources, subsidiary of Altai Philippine
Mining Corp. The purpose of killing
NEWS
FEATURES
“My disabled son used to
vandalize the household at will.
He didn’t listen to anyone and
also got lost several times,” she
recalled, adding that her son
completely changed after he
was kept in Asha-1 at Nayanagar
in eastern Dhaka.
Bishop Theotonius Gomes,
the mastermind of the welfare
services who is the chairman
of Episcopal Commission for
HealthCare (ECHC), said: “We
try to help parents realize that
disabled children are not their
burden. Even though they are
born with disabilities they
should be welcomed as gifts
of God.” (UCANews)
is clear, to cultivate a climate of fear and
stifle opposition. But instead, it is breeding
resistance and is strengthening a grassroots
anti-mining movement.
The transnational corporations have
become very powerful players, doing intensified
economic transactions that cross national
boundaries. The policy or investment
decisions are being formulated primarily by
market considerations and not by national
interest. As in the case of the Philippines and
other developing countries, what is ironic
is that national policies are being framed or
reformulated to suit the dictated interest of
the mining investment.
The arena of struggle for anti-mining
campaign should not totally rely on the
strength of local victories. Since the issue
and the new hierarchy of power have
assumed global character, the campaign
necessarily has to assume global engagement.
Large-scale mining is not an isolated
economic activity. It is always within the
ambit of a larger network of interconnections
and the dangers or risks that it poses
are common to all other sites in other parts
of the world. Given this situation, any effort
to create global solidarity and cooperation,
particularly among the church network, is
a very welcome initiative. I
(This piece was delivered by Fr. Edwin
Garriguez, Executive Secretary of Episcopal
Commission on Social Action, Justice
and Peace, at the Ecumenical Mining
Confernce in Toronto, Canada, on May
1-3, 2001)
14 IMPACT • May 2011
Volume 45 • Number 5 15