Ecclesial Opposition to Large-Scale Mining on Samar

Neoliberalism Meets the Church of the Poor in a Wounded Land

Bibliographic Data

ID4869189
AuthorsWilliam N Holden (0000-0003-3929-3704, University of Calgary, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume3
Issue3
Pages833-861
Publication date2012-09-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel3030833
OpenAlexW1964472197
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited21

In recent years, the government of the Philippines (adhering to the precepts of neoliberalism) has promoted large-scale mining as a method of stimulating economic development. Mining, an activity with substantial potential for environmental harm, is staunchly opposed by the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines, particularly on the island of Samar. The crux of the church's opposition to mining are the adverse environmental consequences that mining may impose upon the rural poor who, engaging in subsistence agriculture and aquaculture, are vitally dependent upon access to natural resources. Should there be a mining-related environmental disruption, these people will be thrust from subsistence into destitution. The commitment of the church to act on behalf of the poor emanates from the conciliar documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the fertile ground for liberation theology in the Philippines provided by the Marcos dictatorship (1972-1986), and by the commitment of the church in its 1992 Second Plenary Council to become a church of the poor. Samar contains quality mineralization set amid a wealth of biodiversity, grinding poverty, a simmering Maoist insurgency, and a vulnerability to natural hazards such as typhoons and El Niño induced drought. The opposition of the church to mining on Samar demonstrates the commitment of the church to be a church of the poor and how this praxis stands in contradistinction to the intellectual hegemony of neoliberalism

Agriculture · Archaeology · Natural resource · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Subsistence agriculture · History · Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact · Law · Mining and Resource Management

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