Eighty-six families of the Subanen tribe are being threatened with eviction from their ancestral land by the Canadian mining company TVI.
The families have all received letters from the company saying, ‘we demand that you leave the company premises' or face court action.
The Subanen have been campaigning for many years to have TVI removed from their land; the company operates an open-pit gold mine. Under Philippine law it is illegal for anyone to enter the Subanen's land without their permission. These latest threats come after a series of violent attacks on the Subanen, including the shooting of four picketers in March 2004.
In a statement in 1997 the Subanen Timu-ays (leaders) said, ‘Our land is sacred. It is the source of our daily needs, and most of all our ancestors have been buried here. Land is the source of life for all creatures and things.'
The Subanen, or people of the river, are the most numerous of the Philippines' tribal peoples, numbering 300,000. They are scattered across the mountains of the Zamboanga peninsula, which they believe was the land given to them by God. They live in small agricultural communities and practice shifting cultivation. Over the last century their land has been settled by outsiders; more recently, there has been a second invasion of logging and mining companies. The Subanen's protests have been brutally suppressed by the Philippine army, and many Subanen have been forced to leave their homes to escape the army presence.
The Subanen have been campaigning for many years to have TVI removed from their land; the company operates an open-pit gold mine. Under Philippine law it is illegal for anyone to enter the Subanen's land without their permission. These latest threats come after a series of violent attacks on the Subanen, including the shooting of four picketers in March 2004.
In a statement in 1997 the Subanen Timu-ays (leaders) said, ‘Our land is sacred. It is the source of our daily needs, and most of all our ancestors have been buried here. Land is the source of life for all creatures and things.'
The Subanen, or people of the river, are the most numerous of the Philippines' tribal peoples, numbering 300,000. They are scattered across the mountains of the Zamboanga peninsula, which they believe was the land given to them by God. They live in small agricultural communities and practice shifting cultivation. Over the last century their land has been settled by outsiders; more recently, there has been a second invasion of logging and mining companies. The Subanen's protests have been brutally suppressed by the Philippine army, and many Subanen have been forced to leave their homes to escape the army presence.
