Two news reports from the Manila Times last month about
the ugly result of continuing business bureaucracies and heavy political
intervention in the mining sector.
With this, it said
foreign investment in the mining sector in the Philippines will be limited due
to policy discontinuity, severe government intervention and strict
environmental laws…
“The Philippines
scores 45.1 out of 100 in our Mining Risk/Reward Index, where the average for
Asian countries is 55.6,” it added…
It said any
tightening of environmental regulations in the Philippines will have limited
effect on actual production from the country, despite acting as a deterrent to
potential new investment. Nickel ore output growth seen averaging 2.4% in
2017-2021.
The second paragraph is an assurance that the existing
local and foreign players are digging up and continue their business. It’s the
potential players that are being discouraged.
In a disclosure to
the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), DMCI said 980 jobs were cut as of March
31, 2017, which translates to 240 left from the original count of 1,220
personnel. This does not include the thousands of subcontracted and seasonal
workers hired during production ramp up.
CA-rejected Gina Lopez did not and does not care about
these job losses in the sector. One clear problem when one-track-minded zealots
and activists are irresponsibly given high government positions.
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I revisited these two reports from Manila Standard.
Chito Gozar, senior
vice president for communications and external affairs, said more numbers can
disprove the belief that mining causes poverty incidence. He said the
contention of environmental groups is not true because precisely mining’s end
is creation of wealth that would eliminate poverty…
The UPLB study
pointed out that the major change in the economy of Didipio village was due to
the presence of OceanaGold in the village. Peviously, Didipio is an
agricultural settlement and that farming was the primary source of household
income.
David is the DoST
executive director of the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging
Technology Research and Development (DoST-PCIEERD), and concurrently, Stratbase
ADR Institute (ADRi) trustee.
“Hence we see the
urgent need to partner with the mining industry in a series of research
projects to develop a long-term national road map that will integrate the
development of mining, steel and other downstream industries,” he said.
Nice two articles. Mining-rich areas tend to be marginal
and inappropriate for high-value agriculture or forestry because of the poor
soil quality. By harvesting the minerals and metal ores, greater value and
income for workers and staff, directly or indirectly employed by a mining firm,
can be enjoyed and optimized.
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