President Rodrigo R. Duterte pronounced that the country would survive without mining companies and that mining as an industry is now at the sunset of its life in the Philippines.
To appreciate the President’s words, every Filipino who loves his country must take a look at the following figures. The Philippines has a land mass of only 30 million hectares and a population of now more than 100 million people. Australia has a land area of 76.8 million hectares—more than double ours —yet its population is only 24.3 million as of early 2016. Canada, on the other hand, has a land mass more than triple that of the Philippines, with 99.8 million hectares, and a population of only 35.8 million in 2015. With the size of these countries’ land areas and small populations in contrast to our much smaller land mass and much bigger population, is it logical to allow destructive mining to prosper in the Philippines?
Open-pit mining, which has been the trend in mining operations for lower costs, has caused the lopping off of mountains, the killing of flora and fauna, the cutting of trees, the poisoning of the soil and water and the creation of barren wastelands in its wake. Considering the Philippines’ small land mass and huge population, mining will displace inhabitants of land areas and impoverish them. It will also cause soil erosion that can cause untold disasters. So, why should mining be allowed to thrive in the Philippines? On the other hand, even if open-pit mining operations were done many times over in either Canada or Australia, there will be little, if any at all, impact on their respective environments and people. Yet, why are foreign mining firms, most of which are Canadian and Australian, in the Philippines, mining our minerals?
It must be remembered that Marcopper—that mining company which caused an environmental disaster in Marinduque, is a Canadian mining company. MRL Gold Inc., that company which violated environmental laws in Agusan del Sur, causing suffering to indigenous peoples, for which the company was sanctioned by the Ombudsman of the International Finance Corporation, is an Australian company.
Canada and Australia, as President Duterte said, have the best practices and laws on mining. This means, as columnist Jarius Bondoc once commented these Canadian and Australian companies come to the Philippines to mine because their own countries have strict laws that regulate mining and guarantee jailing for violators. In the Philippines, on the other hand, most politicians are easy to manipulate and there are oligarchs who allow themselves to be used by foreign companies—going around Constitutional restrictions on full foreign ownership—in the name of money, at the expense of the environment and the people.
As often stressed by Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, the poorest areas in the country are mining sites. When an area is mined, especially the open-pit type of extracting minerals, the soil, the water and the air get poisoned. Mining sites become barren wastelands that cannot sustain agriculture or fisheries. The water sources such as rivers and lakes become unfit for human consumption. Yet, Secretary Lopez added, the mining industry contributes less than one percent to the Philippine economy. Explaining further, she said that out of P35 billion net in mining proceeds, P29 billion goes to the mining company, and only P6 billion go to the coffers of the government. A meager amount—hardly anything—she said, trickles down to the community that is left with contaminated soil, air, and water.
The Environment secretary’s strict stance on mining explains why, when her appointment as DENR secretary was announced, the religious and hordes of lay people in Batangas exclaimed, “May Diyos talaga!” (There truly is God!) At the time the appointment of Gina Lopez was announced, the citizens of Lobo, Batangas and the clergy were in the thick of a struggle against mining in the municipality. You see, Lobo, which lies along the coast of the Verde Island Passage, has been the site of gold mining exploration by an Australian company which sought to be given a permit to do open-pit mining in several mountainous barangays of Lobo, most of which, were watersheds. Before Secretary Lopez’s appointment, and right after the May elections, the mining company was on a roll as it seemed to have mysteriously gained the backing of the local government of Lobo despite widespread opposition by the community.
Just when the people of Lobo felt lost and defeated, the President—who has warned mining companies to shape up and follow strict environmental regulations—appointed Gina Lopez to head the environment department. And, indeed, barely a month since her appointment, Secretary Lopez has already closed down or suspended seven mining companies found violating environmental laws. As communities suffering from the impact of mining become more emboldened to complain, and as the Environment Department does its audit of mining operations in the country, the nation can look forward to more mining operations that cause destruction, to be sanctioned, even closed.
President Duterte, ever the man with a vision for what is best for the Filipino people, is right. We do not need mining for the little income it contributes to the Philippine economy and the size of destruction it causes.
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