Addressing the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (UN CERD) in Geneva, Switzerland, Timuay (traditional Subanon leader) Jose Anoy said: "We are here because we could not get justice in the Philippines. We have come here to explain what happened and seek justice and action."

Also addressing the UN CERD, Timuay Fernando Mudai said, "We have this response from the Philippine Government, but whatever they answer the reality is that our sacred mountain is already destroyed."

In a statement to Inside Mindanao, Task Force Canatuan said that Timuays Anoy and Mudai traveled from Zamboanga del Norte to Geneva, Switzerland, to protest the serious violations of the Subanon Peoples rights to the UN CERD.

Task Force Canatuan is a loose umbrella organization concerned about TVI Pacific's activities in Sitio Canatuan, Tabayo, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.

The UN CERD is meeting for its 72^nd session in Geneva from the 18^th February to the 7^th March 2008. The committee is responsible for monitoring all States obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

Task Force Canatuan said Timuays Anoy and Mudai expressed their hurt and anguish at the destruction of their sacred place on the top of Mount Canatuan. Timuay Anoy (representing the Apo Manglang Glupa' Pusaka of Canatuan Siocon) and Timuay Mudai (representing the regional federation Pigsalabukan Bansa Subanon) reported the irreparable damage to the ancestral domain that has resulted from the mining operations of the Canadian mining company, TVI Pacific, at Mount Canatuan.

The Subanon leaders called for "the mining operations at Mount Canatuan to be halted and the armed paramilitary group which committed serious human rights violations to be withdrawn immediately," Task Force Canatuan said.

The loose umbrella organization added that the Subanon leaders demanded "respect for Subanon customary law and enforcement of rulings of the Subanon judicial authority, the Gukom of the Seven Rivers."

One of the Gukom's 2004 rulings requires the disbandment of the alleged illegitimate Siocon Council of Elders. The Siocon Council of Elders was established by a government agency, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in 2002. However, in 2004 the Gokum, which is a Subanon indigenous court, ruled that the body had no standing in the indigenous culture of the Subanon and further that the majority of its appointed members had no legitimate claims to represent the people of Canatuan.

Joan Carling of Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Monitor, Philippines, provided the UN body with additional examples of human rights violations arising from mining on indigenous territories including the "widespread manipulation of Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) processes by the NCIP and companies in indigenous communities throughout the Philippines," Task Force Canatuan said.

In June 2007, vice president for social commitments of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc., Feliece Yeban, asked forgiveness from the Subanon tribe for the human rights violations committed by TVI.

During the community consultative assembly of the Subanon tribe held in sitio Paduan, barangay Candiz, Siocon town, Zamboanga del Norte, on June 17, 2007, Miss Yeban said, "Kung sakali man po na sa inyong palagay ay nag–violate ng human rights and kompanya, bagamat wala na po sa kompanya itong mga tao na nag-violate ng human rights; ipagpaumanhin po ninyo (If in your opinion, the company [TVI] has committed human rights violations, although those who had committed human rights violations are no longer connected with the company [TVI]; please forgive us)."

Miss Yeban added that they are not hiding the fact that TVI stands accused of various cases of human rights violations.

In 2002, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region 9, through its director, Jose Manuel Mamauag, released an investigation report on the alleged development aggression of TVI.

CHR reported that TVI secured its mining area with security forces belonging to the Special Civilian Armed Auxiliary (SCAA).

The human rights commission added, "Basically SCAA members were trained, supplied with arms and with allowance from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). They were designed to assist the regular government forces in the maintenance of peace and order in their respective barangays. Surprisingly however, these SCAA under the TVI performed their duties in such a manner that as if the TVI is their employer when it should be the residents whom they should serve. These SCAA members even harassed the residents."

END