Catholic bishops from dioceses surrounding Sibuyan Island have urged the Marcos administration to begin proceedings to cancel Altai Philippines Mining Corp.’s mining agreement if a government review confirms grounds raised by affected communities and authorities.
In a joint pastoral statement, the bishops called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and acting Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna to order an independent review of APMC’s compliance with mining and environmental laws.
They warned that large-scale metallic mining could put Sibuyan’s forests, watersheds, biodiversity, communities, livelihoods and surrounding seas at risk.
“Sibuyan is not a sacrifice zone,” said the bishops.
Romblon Bishop Narciso Abellana led the statement, which was joined by bishops of neighboring local Churches and Caritas Philippines.
Among the signatories was San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, president of Caritas Philippines. Bishops from Capiz, Kalibo, Calapan, Boac, San Pablo, Lucena, Gumaca and San Jose de Antique also signed.
They called for an “immediate, comprehensive, independent, transparent, science-based, and participatory review” of APMC’s mineral production sharing agreement, environmental permits and approvals, compliance and regulatory history, social acceptability, and cumulative environmental and social impacts.
If the review confirms legal, environmental, contractual or regulatory grounds already raised by affected communities and competent authorities, the bishops asked the government to “initiate without delay the proceedings for the cancellation of MPSA No. 304-2009-IVB, with full observance of due process.”
The mining agreement, granted in 2009, covers about 1,580.80 hectares in San Fernando on Sibuyan Island. The project has faced regulatory interventions and disputes over environmental compliance, including a cease-and-desist order imposed in 2011 and lifted in 2021.
The bishops also rejected the view that a 2025 Supreme Court ruling denying a Writ of Kalikasan petition against APMC had cleared the project of environmental concerns.
They noted that the court itself said its decision “does not mean…that We condone the environmental issues hounding San Fernando, Sibuyan Island, Romblon.”
The ruling, they said, should not be understood as a declaration that large-scale metallic mining on Sibuyan is environmentally safe.
It also does not remove the authority of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other agencies to review APMC’s agreement, enforce environmental laws and determine whether grounds exist for administrative action.
The prelates also cited a separate Supreme Court ruling recognizing that local governments may evaluate mining applications, raise concerns or objections, and withhold approval when those concerns are not addressed.
Sibuyan’s long geological isolation has produced high levels of endemism, while its forests, watersheds, rivers, mangroves, reefs and surrounding seas form an interconnected ecosystem, according to the bishops. Mount Guiting-Guiting Natural Park is recognized as a Key Biodiversity Area.
The loss of habitat on an island with species found nowhere else could have irreversible consequences, the bishops warned. “If a species found only in Sibuyan disappears from Sibuyan, it disappears from the Earth.”
The bishops said Sibuyan residents should not be treated merely as stakeholders consulted after major decisions have been made, describing them instead as “rights-holders and indispensable participants in determining the future of their island, their livelihoods, and the ecological inheritance of their children.”
They called for meaningful participation, access to information and transparency throughout the life of a project. Where Indigenous Peoples and ancestral domains are affected, rights under Philippine law, including free, prior and informed consent where applicable, must be respected.
The church leaders recalled the killing of San Fernando municipal councilor Armin Marin during an anti-mining protest in Barangay España on Oct. 3, 2007.
Marin was an environmental advocate and president of the Parish Council of the Laity of the Parish of Our Lady of Remedies. Remembering his death, the bishops said “never again should the defense of creation cost another human life.”
They called for protection of environmental defenders, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, fisherfolk, farmers, lay leaders, clergy, civil society and public officials who peacefully participate in environmental governance.
The bishops also argued that protecting Sibuyan does not mean rejecting development. Authentic development, they said, cannot force communities to choose “between jobs and water, investment and food security, revenues and biodiversity, or short-term economic promises and the rights of generations yet unborn.”
They pledged support for sustainable agriculture and fisheries, community-based ecotourism, renewable energy, ecosystem restoration and responsible local enterprise.
“The wealth of Sibuyan cannot be measured solely by the minerals beneath its soil,” the statement read, describing its forests, rivers, watersheds, biodiversity, farms, fisheries, culture, communities and surrounding seas as “a living inheritance whose loss may be irreversible.”
