What then keeps women persist? This was the central of the discussion that gave space for interaction as well as in-depth reflection. The use of “emergent theatre” as a tool for the entire workshop has been very effective in portraying the collective experiences of women on cross-cutting issues on health and nutrition, education, participation in decision-making and natural resource governance among others. I would say that the freedom to choose any form, may it be in dancing, singing, poetry, painting or other forms of expression elicited raw but powerful messages. In this case, the message for me was very clear: Women persist because We Exist. We Can. Therefore, Hear Us. Let Us. This was the same message I got during our community visit in Ucab, Benguet, whose history highlights the struggle of the community against Open Pit Mining. The success of their struggle was actually credited to the women elders who were at the forefront. Take note that a man leader actually claimed this. It is even laudable that this history has been preserved and passed on from one generation to another through poetries and songs.
 
Having heard and shared discussions with the women leaders throughout the 3-day workshop, I would say that women have come a long way in their pursuit for freedom and equality. Their shared stories provide us the importance of having women to participate in governance and in development. They offer perspectives unique from those of men. In resource governance, for instance, the natural resources including the mountains, forests, water, air both flora and fauna interconnected with the lives of women. Interventions that impact this ecosystem also impact the lives of women, hence, the necessity of saving them seats in the discussion table. This practice was proven effective based on the experiences of the indigenous women present in the forum. The IP women leaders from the T’boli Tribe of South Cotabato, one of the partners of Bantay Kita for VOICE, claimed that women in their tribe are now recognized as leaders. They are now part of the discussion on matters involving their ancestral domain. Also, their tribe had actually gave up some of their traditional practices that go against human rights and women’s laws. In fact, they have written a manifesto condemning rape and violence against women.
 
These gains and victories for women are well-celebrated the way women deserve to be celebrated. However, we need to acknowledge that our pursuit continues. We need to find ways on how to keep the fire burning. Let me share to you some of the learnings and insights I got from the workshop.

1. Continues Dialogue and Knowledge Exchange. To keep the fire burning is to keep talking. Providing avenues for knowledge exchange among women gives space for more meaningful collaborations and actions.
2. Intergenerational transfer - keeping the history of struggle alive in the minds of the younger generation. Preservation and transferring stories from one generation to another provide source of inspiration, a reminder and a motivation to continue fighting for the rights of women – fighting for what we believe is right and just.The case of Ucab in Cordillera is a perfect example of this intergenerational transfer.
3. Knowledge capture and Knowledge Dissemination. Communities and individuals have beautiful stories of struggle and victories that other communities can learn from. Effectively capturing these stories including tacit knowledge serves as a challenge. In the same way, civil society organizations have to think of creative ways to disseminate this knowledge. I believe that we can only create more meaning out of our experiences when it is shared and transferred.Continuing process of conscientization through community organizing. It would seem that the successful stories of women rest on a strong community of support – a community who share the same vision and conviction. Therefore, keeping the fire burning is to go back to the communities, talk and walk with the people.

 
To end this blog, I would like to share with you the lyrics of the song written during one of the workshop activities. We were asked to express our dreams and this song came out – a song that portrays the continuing struggle of indigenous women in defense of their natural resources, democracy and human rights.

Katutubong Kababaihan
At buong pamayanan
Samasamang kumikilos 
At nagtutulungan
Sa buong pamayanan
Bansa at daigdigan
Kalikasa’y pinagyayaman
Likas yaman dinedepensahan
Paaralan para magbahaginan
Kaalaman kultura at karanasan
Sa mahirap na kalagayan
Kahingiay matugunan
Marangal na pamumuhay
may dignidad at demokrasya
Lipunang mapayapa 
Makatarungan at Malaya

Hammering a Productive Dialogue
March 13 - 14, 2019 was a milestone for Bantay Kita (BK), more than a hundred stakeholders from government, mining industry and civil society organizations gathered to discuss in a Forum on Responsible Mining.  In collaboration with the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), Philippine – Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative and Mining (PH-EITI) and Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the third and bigger set of stakeholders broke barriers and  discussed their points of convergences and divergences on responsible mining.
 
The forum was third in a series of initial three forums to start discussions on what should be the definition of Responsible Mining in the Philippines. In November and December 2018, the multi-stakeholder group of BK, COMP, PH-EITI and MGB organized the first two Round Table Discussions on responsible mining - including large scale and small scale metallic and non-metallic mining. Experts from the academe, NGO leaders, government officials and industry representatives tackled the issue of conflict sensitivity, labor issues, environment, revenue, planet, profit, and people.  The discussions were lively, with conflicting opinions but everyone was generally respectful and even good humored in their discourse.
 
Existing Mining Standards and Monitoring Frameworks: National and International
Assistant Professor Jo Dionisio from the University of the Philippines Diliman Sociology Department, who was one of the panel reactors to the initial discussion results, gave a very good challenge at the end of her session – “Safe statements that highlight convergences are good but acknowledging divergences, even if uncomfortable, is necessary to filter the non-negotiable and to extract compromises from each sector.”
 
An industry leader shared his insights from his 30 years of experience and gave honest perspectives on their struggles, “We can accept no (as a response to a question if the industry can accept “no to mining” from communities and other stakeholders), but we want a consistent answer – it cannot be yes now and no later, we have to ensure that our investments will generate returns.”
 
An equally honest and passionate NGO leader shared their struggles and perspectives from the community, “We have been talking about our community issues and concerns for the past 30 years but we do not get reliable answers and assurances.”
 
Everyone shared their points, everyone listened.
 
Lisa Sumi; a representative from the US-based Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) - a global non-profit organization with a mission to protect the environment, mine workers and communities directly affected by mining; shared IRMA’s Standard for Responsible Mining. Joan De Venecia-Fabul of Philex Mining Corporation shared COMP’s plan and partnerships with Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) standards from Canada. Rodolfo Velasco and Larry Heradez from MGB presented their Tenement, Safety and Health, Environment and Social (TSHES) monitoring framework and Nieva Natural of Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) shared their mining audit framework.
 
Their sessions generated a lot of questions and discussions that redounded to specific steps and suggestions on structures and mechanisms on how to improve monitoring and on how bring forward the discussions at the regional levels.
 
Collaborative Approach: Shared Responsibility, Joint Solutions
 
The two-day activity resulted in a joint call to action – to have  a shared responsibility and therefore shared actions on how to move forward in coming up with more holistic standard on responsible mining. The following are the top action points from the forum and the action planning session: 1) working together to develop responsible mining standard by reviewing current frameworks and guiding laws and policies, 2) identify ways on effective monitoring (e.g. self-monitoring, multi-stakeholder monitoring, third party monitoring), 3) how to prepare and roll out  effective transparency and accountability mechanisms using the monitoring results, 4)discuss and collaborate on enabling governance mechanisms, and 5) working together and build on current level of openness and collaborative engagement.
 
This can effectively happen in a multi-stakeholder platform with effective and meaningful participation of all stakeholders. “All of us are gathered here out of love and concern for our country, for our fellow Filipinos, because we want our nation to develop sustainably. We persist until we achieve our objectives, and we keep working towards convergence and synergy,” said Atty. Karla Espinosa, National Coordinator of PH-EITI.
 
At the end of the forum, the sentiment that resonated with everyone was, “We all love our country, we are all patriots and we are all committed to move this forward.” Norie Garcia, Bantay Kita’s Interim National Coordinator ended the forum and workshop by thanking everyone for their openness, commitment and attitude to forge collaborative engagement. 

The gathering also served as the election of new global council members. Chadwick Llanos of Bantay Kita was one of the newly elected global council membersto represent the Asia Pacific Region. The newly elected global council ratified the new five-year strategy.
 
Current context of disclosure
The different plenary and breakout sessions provided venues to share and learn different country context on how to enhance disclosures and on how to push for more citizen participation and greater accountability. For example, in the Philippines, gender related disclosures on employment have been available for the last two years but there are specific issues that need more attention like the role and impact of mining in women and the related governance issues that need to be addressed.
 
There was also emphasis on the need for more disclosures on social and environmental payments and issues on labor rights, health and safety - not just of laborers but as well as of those of communities.
 
Calling for social and environmental disclosure
In the Philippines, for the past several years, the CSOs have been clamoring for the disclosure of social and environmental impacts of the extractive industries. This has been more pronounced given the context of climate change vulnerability and the resulting hazards. Now that the global strategy is pushing for this and how it should be reflected in the international EITI standards, the CSOs in the PH-EITI multi-stakeholder platform can have stronger support and basis to demand disclosures and transparencies on these areas.
 
For example, environmental disclosures such as auxiliary rights on water and timber are not publicly disclosed. Tree cutting and water permits are easily granted to mining companies with less or no regards over communities’ rights to these resources. CSOs, over the past several years, have been asking for disclosures on these natural resource use  primarily because these ‘rights’ have been exploited by mining companies.
 
At the end of the Global Assembly, the Coalition called on the EITI to include social and environmental disclosures and publish contracts and licenses.
 
Moving forward
With the new global agenda, Bantay Kita will be able to put forward the communities’ agenda on gender, labor, social and environmental issues and continue its advocacy and facilitation of significant reforms in natural resource governance.
 
Bantay Kita will continue to build on its initial achievements to make transparency and accountability work for the communities it serves. The direction is to make transparency and accountability work such positive actions and outcomes will redound to the communities where it matters most.