Anislagan: A Visit to the Bleeding Mountains

ABRUPT. This is the very word I was looking for when I started to do my field report days after we came back to our respective residences. The entire experience at Anislagan was on a fast-paced momentum. I had to travel back to CDO since I was staying at Iligan due to the ever – ruckus election in the Philippines particularly in our hometown. My co-intern Rejee informed me that I shall be replacing our other co-intern, Choco, to travel en route to Anislagan since the latter had a fever. Thus, I travelled back to CDO and around 5am came to the LRC office to travel via road trip with Sir Cocoi, Rejee and DJ, a Digital Arts student of FEU. Amidst the stressful life of traveling to and fro, I, being an optimist, have always been thankful for this rare opportunity to travel, learn and be a part of a great cause all at the same time. This is what I have always adored, I wanted result-oriented experiences and so far, as a law student myself, I have learnt a lot because of LRC.

Aside from being abrupt, this experience I had en route to Anislagan made me studied Executive Order No. 79 in a few span of hours. This mandate originating from the Office of the President, E.O. 79, was for the very first time I have ever encountered it. Being able to permeate this to the commoners of Anislagan is heart-pounding enough to begin with because I might be surprised that they might know more of this mandate more than I do. I never really had a background on stuffs like these given that we do not have environmental law in our curriculum in the College of Law at MSU – Iligan. Still, I am thankful that Sir Cocoi and my co-intern were there to help out. Truly, it was one unforgettable experience. I have not only learnt from my self-study but I have also learned so much from the experiences of the people there and from my co-intern’s detailed discussion on the Rules of Procedure in Environmental Cases. That was totally enlightening on my part since like I’ve mentioned awhile ago, we haven’t had a subject that relates to that field.

For the following days, we were able to meet up with the direct parties of mining cases, such as that of the personal testimonies and confessions of Tatay Daniel Gonzales among others. We went to his farm and examined his fishpond, the one which he complained of where his fishes were on the verge of dying as he suspected that the mining operation from uphill was the main cause of it. The funny thing was when we tried to survey other parts of the place particularly that of Tanke Spring of which there were employees who were spying on us and taking pictures. At first, I thought they were just commoners from that place but when Sir Cocoi told us they were mere mining employees, the aura became quite scary. I knew all along that this entails a part of the journey we decided to take on but at this level, I began to feel a bit petrified. It became so overwhelming when we were on the way home via Buda en route to Davao then eventually to CDO.

While on the way, we had our lunch at Trento, Agusan del Sur & met up with Datu’s from the Manobo Agusanon tribe. Our conversation started from their plight towards land entitlement, SIPA, and then I discovered that one of the Datu’s had a fixed price on his head. Given that fact, I began to panic a little since people from politics and big mining companies wanted to bring him down. The things we discussed were quite informative especially when we were in awe to have heard that these Manobo’s really know what they were talking about in English language at that! It was so astonishing because they were totally fluent and were quite updated of certain changes of laws or mandates that will definitely benefit the entire tribe. All of these were spices to the entire journey we took and to have known that one of the Datu’s were on the hit list, totally made the trip more adventurous.

To have seen Sir Cocoi go about conversing with the Manobo’s and the people from Anislagan was such an inspiration. His job isn’t easy for his life is always on the line wherever he goes. I salute people like him for his tireless efforts in extending help to the unfortunate ones. I think that in movements like this, the objectives of the LRC organization were successfully met.  Us interns have learnt a lot & were convinced in one way or another to be engaged in alternative lawyering soon whether or not we become lawyers or just mere law advocates. For whatever its worth, the lessons we had acquired from different unknown territories we owe it all to LRC.

And as for our objective, as far as I am concerned, our purpose was met. Why E.O. 79 and the Rules of Procedure in Environmental Cases were created and how they can be of help to the community people in Anislagan have been duly imparted to them in our efforts to make them realize and understand the purpose of the existence of these mandates.

 

For me, I think, the next time the organization initiates another trip, it would be wise to bring along people from the army as an escort or someone who is skilled enough in shooting or of self-defense. Probably so it would be better too if Sir Cocoi and other members of LRC are trained with karate or anything that pertains to self defense.

Over-all, I felt the essence of what alternative lawyering really is all because of LRC and Samdhana. Although I am a bit freaked out when it comes to security issues, but I still plan on connecting with LRC every summer as a volunteer that is if Sir Cocoi would approve of such request. I would love to learn so much more from Sir Cocoi, Ma’am Joan and the others. All along I have always wanted my summer to be engaged for a cause and thank God He blessed me with this opportunity and for that I am happy. Perhaps soon, I shall set my bare feet back in Anislagan and visit the bleeding mountain which will no longer bleed to death but be filled with luscious greens, be well defended and conserved not just the place but the people themselves.

The questions thrown at us during the discussions we had at Anislagan were a challenge to us law advocates because based on that discourse, there are still loopholes in our laws that needs to be reviewed. Therefore, it has been my task as well to delve into these deeper as I now begin to take interest in issues like these.