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Article: Polluting the sacred. (cultural and environmental repercussions of Mt. Apo geothermal energy project in the Philippines)
- Article from:
- Multinational Monitor
- Article date:
- April 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Essential Information, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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KIDAPAWAN, MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES -- "How would you feel if we drilled a massive hole through your church, because, say, there was oil underneath?"
That is the rhetorical question asked by indigenous opponents of the Philippine government's Mt. Apo geothermal energy project.
Nearly one half million indigenous people on Mindanao, organized into six ethnic groups collectively known as Lumads, regard Mt. Apo, at 10,300 feet the highest peak in the Philippines, as sacred. They believe that disfiguring the mountain to drill for energy is blasphemous.
Alongside Philippine and international environmental organizations and human rights groups, the Lumads have ...