Questions on the Fox and the Hypocrites
It is interesting that the good Bishop Bastes of Sorsogon is now being held up in your newspaper as a kind of unreal monster (Foxy Bishop, 5/10/06). The Bishop is being portrayed as a towering tyrant of unbelievable influence and political power whose slightest whim can destroy a corporation that operates on a global scale.
And Lafayette is much aggrieved. By its own words it has followed the rules and satisfied the conditions but Bishop Bastes is costing them millions that they could be sharing with the country.
But this is all illusion. Bishop Bastes has little power. Lafayette has the support of captains of industry and a champion in the person Gov. Raul Lee who has shown that even if a company does not operate in his province or benefit his constituents in any way, he may act as a very vocal supporter of it. Similarly Mr. Peter Wallace (There’s No Room for Hypocrites, 5/12/2006) has let fly his argument that all those against mining should give up using anything that has minerals in it altogether, and has been throwing around the facts as he understands them – that the regulations that keep mining companies in check are tighter than ever and we are protected from the worst excesses of the industry. His choice to capitalize all the letters in FACT would lead some to believe that he has some knowledge of its actual meaning, when he is in FACT simply parroting government lines and mixing his opinion into them.
All these attacks on the Bishop ignore real facts, the first among them that the Rapu Rapu Fact Finding Commission has been holding public hearings since it was created. These hearings are open to all, media, government, pro or anti-mining alike. And in these hearings, under oath, more facts have come to light. And these facts point to a chain of ineptitude that stretches from the government to Lafayette’s own improper handling of a mine site they promised would be a showcase of world class technologies. Warnings have been ignored and corners have been cut and this truth is what Lafayette seeks to bury because it will expose them not as a world class mining company running a state of the art mining site, but a mining company the same as all who have come before, interested in their profits at the sake of our lands and health.
These attacks against Bishop Bastes and the Commission are simply a pre-emptive strike, a method to try and force the hand of government before a tide of unpleasant truths washes away the pleasant illusion of a Philippine economy powered by responsible mining. There is no responsible mining and it will not make the nation great or rich. Lafayette is attempting to paint everyone associated with the commission as anti-mining and an enemy of the Philippine economy, trying to get the report swept under the rug before its full damage can be done, and they can be exposed as incompetent and corrupt.
Take the example of Bolivia which is nationalizing its major industries – mining among them. This has caused mining corporations to think about relocating their operations – which is understandable. But their alternate choice is Pakistan, which is described as preferable despite the operations of militants – among them Al Qaeda cells.
The concept of an industry that chooses the constant threat of terrorism over a cut in profits is a staggering one but not an alien one, not in this day in age. But it underlines a dedication to profit that far outweighs human life or concern for the welfare of a nation’s economy. And representatives of this same industry are now asking the government to choose between its promises of wealth and reams of testimony given under oath.
When the report is released, then it will be the time to assign blame and recriminations. But before that take a good look at the parties involved and question – who is trustworthy? Who has the most to gain from a commission cowed into silence?
