MANILA, Philippines ? (UPDATE) Mindoro residents have decided not to lift their hunger strike even after the Department of Environment and Nature Resources (DENR) suspended for 90 days the controversial environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for large-scale mining in a watershed and ancestral domain area.

Some 25 Mangyans and anti-mining advocates have been protesting the proposed nickel mining project of a Norwegian company that would cover 11,218 hectares and span four towns in Mindoro Oriental and Occidental.

In 2005 Mindoro Oriental's Provincial Board passed an ordinance declaring a 25-year moratorium on mining activities.

The ECC was issued last October 14 by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza despite strong and valid opposition from the community, the local government and the church.

The hunger strikers who were camped in front of DENR rejoiced when they first learned of the suspension order on Wednesday.

But the protestors did not consider the ECC suspension as a complete triumph. As of Thursday, many of the hunger strikers remained in front of DENR offices to demand a complete withdrawal of the ECC.

Mangyan representatives, anti-mining advocates and Bishop Warlito Cajandig of the apostolic vicariate of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, earlier met with Atienza. They questioned the ECC that, they said, was granted the Norwegian mining company Intex Resources without the required hearings and consultations.

A Mass of thanksgiving on the sidewalk was immediately held on Wednesday, officiated by Cajandig and auxiliary bishop of Manila and hunger striker Broderick Pabillo and more than 25 priests.

Arnan Panaligan and Josephine Sato, governors of Mindoro Oriental and Occidental respectively, as well as congressman Diogenes Osabel of Alagad Party, nuns and anti-mining advocates were present.

In his homily, Cajandig said : "We should not be triumphalistic. We must find out where the mistake is." Sovereignty resided in the people, he stressed. "Our leaders are supposed to be stewards," he added.

Pabillo, who joined the hunger strike told the crowd, "The hunger strike itself is not difficult. What is difficult is making the decision to go on a hunger strike." The bishop said they did not know something would come out of their efforts after only two days.

Alangan and Tadyawan Mangyans, both men and women, wore T-shirts on which their message was written. "We fight for the ancestral domains of the Mangyan tribe, 9,720 hectares of critical watershed, 25 years mining moratorium. "

Mindoro island, home of the Mangyans, their T-shirts say, is the fourth largest rice producing area with P12 billion worth of annual agricultural income.

Intex must prove the social acceptability of the mining project, Governor Panaligan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "We realize that this is not the end. DENR will start the process again. We have to refocus and fight to show this project has no social acceptability."

Social acceptability is one of the requirements for the issuance of an ECC.

Alangan Mangyan leader Librada Isidro expressed the same sentiments when she spoke before the crowd.

The mining project will span four towns-Victoria, Pola and Socorro in Oriental Mindoro and Sablayan in Occidental Mindoro. It is expected to produce 100 to 120 million tons of ore over a period of 15 to 20 years. Mindoro's nickel laterite deposit is believed to be one of the biggest in the world.

Fr. Edwin Gariguez of Alyansa Laban Sa Mina (Alamin) and Mangyan Mission said of the 90-day suspension, "DENR is merely asking Intex to complete their papers. We want an investigation."

Former environment secretary Heherson Alvarez was said to have opposed the Mindoro mining project and refused to issue an ECC after seeing for himself the watershed area where the project would operate.

Inquirer sources showed documents to prove that the issuance of the ECC for Intex had been "fast-tracked", allegedly by a fiat "from above," in order "to ensure optimum economic growth without delay," and that the required number of days to get an ECC had been reduced and the process "streamlined." The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) system has also been simplified.

This was the reason Intex got an ECC without wide consultations with communities, the sources said.

The national anti-mining network Alyansa Tigil Mina-Alliance to Stop Mining earlier called for Atienza's ouster, saying the former Manila mayor committed "dreadful acts" when he approved the project. Intex, on the other hand, said the protestors failed to present their arguments during the public hearings.

Cajandig issued a call through the Diocesan Commission on Service, asking for the support of priests, religious, seminarians, students, lay and all people of goodwill "to pray and join in the campaign against mining in Mindoro."

In his privileged speech in Congress last Monday, Osabel stressed the importance of social acceptability. "There should be a credible and acceptable consultation and local government-stakeholder's consent, requirements which the EMB, DENR and Intex have failed to fulfill."

Speaking in Filipino, Osabel also called for a "congressional investigation of DENR, MGB, EMB and NCIP and other agencies involved" in the ECC issuance.

According to the Ateneo-based Simbahang Lingkod Bayan (SLB, Church Service for the Nation) "the large scale mining operations of Intex Resources, a Norwegian-based mining company, may bring about the destruction of a contiguous watershed and that can lead to the displacement of several indigenous Mangyan communities in Oriental Mindoro."

Mindoro is tackled in a comprehensive and detailed study on mining in Mindoro, Sibuyan Island and Mindanao, "Philippines: Mining or Food" (2008) commissioned by several international development agencies including Misereor of the Catholic Bishops of Germany.

The study was done by Robert Goodland, an environmental scientist specializing economic development, and Clive Wicks, engineering, agriculture and environmental specialist, with the UK-based Working Group on Mining in the Philippines.

The study concluded: "Intex and all mining companies should comply with the mining moratoria...The Intex Mindoro Mining Project, and the other 91 mining applications being considered for the tropical island, would damage most of the water catchment area and the possibility of sustainable food production in the foreseeable future of Mindoro."