Intensifying the Anti-mining Campaign

A new generation of strategies for government accountability is needed, one that fully considers entrenched, institutional obstacles to change. Vertical integration of coordinated civil society policy monitoring and advocacy is one such strategy. Engaging each stage and level of public sector actions in an integrated way can locate the causes of accountability failures, show their interconnected nature, and leverage the local, national and transnational power shifts necessary to produce sustainable institutional change.

The Philippines has a mining law that is contested by several sectors due to the inadequate environmental protection it offers lands and communities. The law allows forest clearance, free exploitation of water, easement rights, and the use of explosives with low fees and penalties. It does not provide effective protection of the rights of mining-affected communities, nor does it recognize the ownership of natural resources by communities of indigenous peoples.

This case study summary is one of seven that reflect on civil society monitoring and advocacy initiatives in the Philippines – all of which aim to improve government accountability in different sectors – through the lens of vertical integration.