Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

146 Pitfalls and Pipelines: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries
In the 1990s, several women’s organizations were set up in miningaffected
communities in Itogon and Tuba, which all came together under
the Begnas Women’s Alliance. New women’s groups were formed in other
mining communities in Benguet, such as in Mankayan, where miners’
wives organized themselves into Tignayan Dagiti Babbai ti Minasan
a Lepanto in 2005. Kankanaey women in Bakun municipality helped
organize Bakun Aywanan in 2008, and remain vocal leaders of their
organization in the campaign against Australia’s Royalco mining.
The first steps in organizing consist of information and education activities
for the women to understand their situation in the mines, within the context
of Philippine society. Awareness raising is essential in order to motivate
the women to organize. Through their organizations, indigenous women
planned activities to address the problems identified, which including
community protests against large scale mining, privatization of resources
like water, and militarization.
Many women became leaders of communities or peoples’ organizations,
engaging in direct actions with government through mass mobilizations,
lobbying and dialogues, including a rice cooperative and pig dispersal
project. It is an achievement of the overall Cordillera indigenous peoples’
struggle to have empowered the women, who carry major burdens caused
by the impacts of large-scale mining operations.
There are many lessons learned from CPA and Innabuyog’s long-running
work of campaigns and advocacy for indigenous peoples’ rights, and
women’s rights. These include:
a. The continuing need to organize, educate and mobilize women
to harness their potential as leaders and important actors in the
community;
b. The continuing need to address the particular issues indigenous
women face, like the lack of livelihood, basic social services,
impacts of mining on food sovereignty, physical security, and health;
c. The need to appreciate and recognize the important role that
women play in the defence of land and resources in the community,
and;
d. The need to generate support for women from other sectors of
society and to build solidarity linkages with other indigenous women
in the region, country and abroad.