http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ilo/2006/05/26/oped/ted.aldwin.ong.misreadings.html
By Ted Aldwin Ong

IN RESPONSE to the recommendation of the Rapu-Rapu Fact-finding Commission that mining activities be stopped on Rapu-Rapu island, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said, “A ban on mining is not the answer but the standards and safeguards already in place and existing laws must be strictly enforced.”

The statement of Malacañang on the result of the investigation of the fact-finding body acknowledged that existing laws on mining were not properly enforced, thus it resulted to mine tailings and spills in Rapu-Rapu, Albay. It is ironic that the recommendation of the fact-finding body to ban mining in Rapu-Rapu was considered by Malacañang as not the proper response to the tragedy and Bunye reiterated that “mining remains a priority for development” by the Arroyo administration.

Mining might attract the billions of pesos that the Arroyo administration desperately needs to bankroll its plans on her bid to end the economic and political crisis but the Rapu-Rapu tragedy is another concrete example that this administration is robbing the people of their right to live in a clean environment.

Our colleague in the Freedom from Debt Coalition, the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center Kasama sa Kalikasan-Friends of the Earth-Philippines (LRC-KsK-FoE) calls this as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s “poor bet to RP’s economic growth.”

According to LRC-KsK-FoE, the 2003 report from the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines titled: Philippine Mining Investment Opportunities, showed that the Philippines would only receive a very small share from the huge profit that would be raked in by large-scale mining operators.

For instance, in the 4,663-hectare Rapu-Rapu polymetallic project in Rapu-Rapu, Albay operated by the Rapu-Rapu Minerals Inc. and Ungay-Malobago Mines, Inc. in partnership with Lafayette NL of Australia, LG Collins and KORES of South Korea, the report showed that the potential annual gross sales would be US$ 41 million.

The mine life of the said project, based on the report, is seven years thus total estimated gross sales would be US$ 287 million. Minus the mining contractor’s US$ 42 million potential total investment, total potential sales would be US$ 245 million.

Of the US$ 245 million potential sales, only 19 percent or US$ 45.5 million would be paid to the Philippine government in the form of excise tax and income tax without incentives. Thus, the mining contractor will be left of a total potential net sale of US$ 199.5 million or 81 percent of the total potential sales.

The report on shows that we are being tugged along by the Arroyo administration for a free ride thinking that mining will be solution to the economic crisis, which I believe, is of her own making and not of the entire Filipino people.

No amount of laws or its proper enforcement can ensure the safety of the communities and of the environment from the damage wrought by large-scale mining. Mining spills have become a regular occurrence in communities with mining activities.

What happened in Rapu-Rapu island is the same tragedy that took place in Boac, Marinduque when Marcopper was also found to have released mine tailings in its rivers. Despite this glaring evidence the Arroyo administration has earmarked mining as its priority for development.

Having said this, we are expecting the worse environmental disasters in the days to come. Mrs. Arroyo’s policies on mining will only bury our nation deeper into the graves of economic collapse and will lead to the ultimate death of the environment. For comments, email them to tao.ssi@gmail.com