Dalena Samling News Today

Fifty members of the Blaan community just got capacitated on environmental protection, preservation of centuries-old peacekeeping practices and community representation in state-organized activities.

The governor of South Cotabato had vetoed last month’s lifting by the provincial board of a 12-year ordinance disallowing open-pit mining in the province.

The Blaans saw as “good sign” the visit of Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu to Tampakan town where there are copper deposits they want mined to bail them out from grinding poverty.

The indigenous communities and leaders of the business and labor sectors here and in nearby towns were elated with the December 23 lifting of the four-year open-pit mining ban in the country.