China benefits from mines closure in Philippines

Is DENR secretary Gina Lopez being played by Chinese miners? Some friends say Lopez is trying to kill the mining industry in the Philippines by ordering the closure of 75 mine contracts in the country. Lopez described it as a gift of love to the peoples of Mindanao.

Who benefits from the death of mining in the Philippines? Surely, it's China.

China has vast stocked piles of mineral ores and mineral products. The world's biggest economy has had this problem since 2012. And demands for Chinese ore have cooled for the past few years. Analysts say this is a pesky problem which reflects the very economic state of China. Some say this stockpiling of mined products highlights China's weakening economy.

The solution for China's problem is simple---close their mines. That would be catastrophic for China. Had the Chinese government did exactly that--that would mean tremendous loss of jobs, as well as stoppage of industrial activity which impacts on several other industries linked with mining. A slowdown will cause China's economy to fall a few points.

With the closure of mines in the Philippines, China is now in the position of being the world's top source of nickel, copper, chromite even gold. Without mined ore from the Philippines, China can now dispose of millions of tons of steel products which they have stockpiles.

Of course, Lopez wants lost revenues from mining recovered from tourism. The main problem is, how do you attract tourists to these areas already "destroyed" by mining activities?

You need billions of pesos worth of investments. Where do you now get those billions, when everyone knows that it is too risky to invest in tourism in the Philippines?

You don't have a fully integrated and world-class airport system. You don't have a good road system. You still have a still-born private enterprise led tourism infrastructure. And there are just a handful of serious resort operators there willing to risk their monies for a venture which, in all seriousness, is still quite nebulous.

So, who, again gains from the closure of mines in the Philippines? Lopez will say the people. The question is--who then will the people go to when hunger now sets in these communities with the loss of economic activity?

We might have saved millions of Chinese' workers lives when we closed our own mines. How about the lives of Filipinos who depend on this economic activity for their daily sustenance? Does Lopez have a plan for them? I sincerely hope so.

To mine or not to mine

If you ask an ordinary Filipino about mining, you'll get ambivalent opinions about it. Why? Because the average Filipino knows that mining is part of life. It is even part of a country's economic development. Take a look at yourself now. If you're wearing something now, what part of it that did not come from mining? That zipper and those rivets from your jeans came from mining, not to mention, that gold ring that adorns your finger.


The only question is--where did you get yours? I mean, of course, manufacturers of your jeans probably do not even know where their supplier got those copper or brass rivets and zippers. What's important is that, when they need rivets and zippers, it's there for the taking. And credit that to mining.


Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, these lands of ours were mined not just by our ancestors but by Chinese, Japanese, Indonesians, Persians, Indians and even Thais. These lands were open, economic zones. You can mine them since no one owns the lands. 


Because of this, our lands were known as sources of high quality gold. Butuan was one. Mindoro, another. Vast gold fields were explored and exploited. Our ancestors mine our lands for gold, copper and other precious stones and minerals that not just adorn their lives, but also used as trading commodities and even currencies. 


Now, we don't have even a National STeel Corporation that processes our minerals. Mining is such an important component of economic development, yet we simply don't have the processing industry that is supposed to complement such undertaking. Why?


For decades, we allow small mining to destroy our forests, our mountains and our lands. These small miners were the ones who destroy those farm lands. And its understandable because these small miners think that they are not accountable to anyone so, they abuse and disabuse these lands like crazy. They pillage and rape. 


Grease money, yes, it flows rather freely from small miners in exchange for continued exploitation of our lands. DENR allows them because they earn from them. 


I am a friend of Dr. Gerry Ortega, yet, when it comes to mining, I am for responsible mining. And the reason why responsible mining practices never took off in this country because we allow small miners to do their own thing. We, as a nation, have never experienced a large scale mining operations that exercise responsible mining practices. 


Nay, we did. Baguio is one example of a booming mining community. Sadly though, other than Baguio, nada.


Large mining activities were conducted in Baguio. And look at it now. It is bustling with economic activity that benefits millions of lives in the Benguet and Cordilleras. 


Of course, let us also admit that not all areas in the country are open to mining. There should be areas devoted only to agriculture. But to say that that is topmost priority and leave mining behind, is bordering on insanity and lack of vision.


Admit it--there are vast areas in this country that is not suitable for agriculture. Lands with high PH or high acidity are best for mining, not for farming. Are we to say that we will not mine those areas?


There is no industrializing country in the world that did not exploit their own mineral resources to achieve the level of modernity and development they so reap now. 


These countries recognize that although food security is top-most, mining should actually be second-best in terms of priority because mining is essentially a complementary industry to economic development.


We should not be too naive and say, let's reject mining altogether. If we do, we will not progress as a nation and those poor communities will never ever taste modernization. 


Are we to say that let's just continue importing steel, copper, and other minerals when we do have them in abundance here? 


For us to fully develop as a nation, we must recognize that the path towards modernization is littered with risks. One of those risks entails seeing some of our mountains carved for ore. 

CPP-NPA-NDF dips its fingers on mining? WTF?!

The Communist Party of the Philippines issued a statement last September 14, condemning the entry of foreign mining firms in the country. The party devoted so much time writing the statement that it took them a great deal to explain why a Socialist-Mao Zedong revolutionary force is now very interested and very keen on dipping their fingers in the exploration of this country's mineral resources. For decades, note the series of statements issued by the Party and you'll note that these statements are closely related to the 40-year struggle of the Party against the Philippine State. 


Now, the CPP-NPA-NDF is changing tack. It now wants to become an enterprise? It now wants to promote nationalist mining and probably earn millions of dollars worth of revenues from extraction of mines?


This is a far departure from the Party whose sole objective is seizure of political power in the name of the weak, the helpless and the downtrodded. I know that the Party has directed its front organisations such as Alyansa Tigil Mina to liaise with Indigenous Peoples solely to protect their ancestral domains? Don't tell me that the CPP-NPA-NDF will not ask these tribes to abandon their domains once the Party successfully convinces the National Government to call off foreign mining plans in this country and instead grant it to several Party favorites and dummies?


Teddy Casino and Luz Ilagan of Bayan Muna and Gabriela, both organisations under the National Democratic Front are very much active in calling for the repeal of the Mining Act of 1995. Instead of being consistent with the age-old partyline of protecting the Indigenous People's rights and the stand favoring environmental protection, the duo wants nothing more than nationalize mining. They want a repeal because it does not favor the Party's interest, which is dominate the local mining industry.


Meaning, they are really not interested in protecting IP rights---they are now using these tribes to alienate other interests involved in mining so that they will now be the ones to dominate the industry and people it with their own dummies?


My question to Teddy is---where do we get the technology needed to extract tons and tons of copper and gold in our mountains? We buy it, they say. Ok, where do you get experts? There is still a dearth of Pinoy mining engineers and experts. Don't tell me that you'll ask China to partner with you? If you plan so, you're nothing but shameless hypocrites!


I am totally dismayed by the Party stand simply because this campaign against mining distracts the revolutionary movement from its original objective which is armed struggle against the state. Ask any NPA cadre and he'll tell you that the main reason why he joined was he wanted nothing more than change Philippine society. Is mining part of his work as a cadre?


INstead of salivating from the thought of getting millions out of ores, why not completely concentrate on intensifying the struggle against graft and corruption, the Corporatism being perpetuated by the Aquino administration, the increasing poverty of the people and others? There are so many issues more worthy of the party's attention than mining.


Or the Party wants to turn their weapons into digging forks instead of plowshares?


By the way, why is the CPP-NPA-NDF attacking only US mining firms and not Chinese mining firms? China is a foreign power, one of a few exploiting the resources of this country. I have'nt heard any single incident which the NPAs torch the mining plants of the Chinese. Don't tell me that the Party is a stooge of China?