Yes, the conference was ‘by invitation only’

This is in reaction to the article “Mining confab minus the miners.” (Inquirer, 1/30/12) The author of the article, Daxim L. Lucas, accused the organizers of the International Conference on Mining in Mindanao of having “a pre-ordained result in mind” by not inviting representatives from the mining industry.

Of course, the conference had a “pre-ordained” agenda. All conferences do—they are called objectives. He was correct in saying that the conference was “by invitation only.” As a matter of fact, part of its objectives was to “strengthen the networking among people’s organizations and NGOs doing work on mining” and to “promote greater participation in dialogue and exchange among the peoples of Mindanao affected by mining.”

The organizers invited only representatives from local government units affected by mining, NGOs and POs doing work on the environment, and the academe and the Church, because it had been made clear that the conference would be a meeting of like-minded people, “a homogenous group in order for participants to level off in their campaigns.” The conference, in short, was never an open conference. Representatives from the mining industry were not the only ones excluded from the conference.

That the miners were not invited does not assail the internationality of the conference. Representatives from different international institutions were present: Human Rights Watch-New York, Unesco, Revenue Watch (based in New York), Mining Watch Canada, World Wildlife Fund, London Working Group on Mining in the Philippines, Triple 11 Movement and researchers from Ghent and Carleton Universities, to name some of those institutions.

The conference was an academic exercise with a stated purpose, not a forum for debate but a search for truth. The mining industry cannot dictate its agenda on the academe. We did not want a debate but a deliberation toward a deeper understanding of the issues involving the mining industry in light of what our invited experts had to say.

—VINCI R. BUEZA,

assistant to the president for external affairs,

Ateneo de Davao University;

radabueza@gmail.com