http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006071168995.html

The revitalized mining industry is seen as the best and a rare opportunity to jumpstart the economy of Mindanao, Paul G. Dominguez, president and chief executive officer of Sagittarius Mines, Inc. said.

In a presentation before the 30th General Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference, Dominguez said Mindanao will be able to catch up with the rest of the country in terms of economic progress, if responsible and sustainable mining will be allowed to continue.

There are 24 priority mining projects in the country, 10 of them are located in Mindanao.
Statistics in the year 2000 showed that per capita income of Mindanao stood at P19,907 or roughly only 62 percent of the Philippines’ P32,141 during the same period.
He said mining is the best economic opportunity for Mindanao. The industry has the potential to generate 240,000 jobs in the next six years and could attract between $ 4 billion and $ 6 billion in foreign direct investments.

“We are at a big crossroads, we can take advantage of that chance, modify the whole economic structure, if we don’t take advantage of that, the investors looking for resources will all go back to Peru and all other places because that demand has to be satisfied. In fact, in Australia and in other countries, they are already exploring the seabed, looking for copper deposits under the sea. No community problems there, they’re in the middle of the ocean,” he told nearly a hundred visitors and members of the BBC at the Asian Institute of Management.

Some bishops, however, expressed apprehension about irresponsible mining. Bishop Jose Mangiuran of Dipolog said mining will produce pollutants that will endanger the environment. Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez of Marbel expressed apprehension that the watershed in SOCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santon City) will be adversely affected.

SMI’s Tampakan Copper-Gold Project, now in its pre-feasibility stage, holds a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) with the government to develop a 27,945hectare area straddling South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur. The area is believed to hold the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposit in the world.

Other BBC members in the business sector cited other issues that give mining a bad reputation. Ernesto M. Aboitiz, vice cochairman of the BBC said poverty is the real problem why we suffer from environmental degradation. “Our forests were not destroyed by loggers,” he said, but when the loggers leave the forests, poor people who are trying to survive will take over and burn the trees so they can plant. The worst mining disaster he said is Mt. Diwalwal in Davao del Norte where small-scale miners are operating using mercury to get gold.

Economist Bernie Villegas agreed with Aboitiz and said that mining will bring people out of poverty. “Philippine poverty is a rural phenomenon, 70 percent of the Philippine poor are in the rural areas which includes the indigenous poor, especially in these most depressed areas – Caraga, most of Mindanao, Cagayan, Bicol Eastern Visayas.”

He reiterated Dominguez’s stand that “there is very few opportunities that can jumpstart the economy. Agriculture in those places … will not bring people out of poverty and manufacturing is not feasible because there is no infrastructure. And so, since mining is usually in the boondocks, we really have to find some ways of implementing sustainable and equitable mining to bring people out of poverty.”

The economist also said the lack of capital prevents Philippine firms to venture in big mining projects.

“All of us agree that we like Filipino capital to develop our national patrimony but the harsh reality is that the Philippines has the lowest savings rate in East Asia and capital could only come from savings. A typical East Asian economy saves 32 percent of its gross domestic product. China, which is a poor country, saves 50 percent of its gross domestic product. The Philippines traditionally has been saving only 20 percent of its gross domestic product.

“Last year, for example, China, in addition to saving 50 percent of its GDP, attracted $ 60 billion in foreign direct investments. Do you know what we attracted? $ 1.1 billion. It’s not because without the foreigners that we need to have, but it’s a fact that there is no Filipino capital,” he said.

Felipe B. Alfonso, vicechairman of AIM’s Board of Trustees, who acted as the facilitator of the forum, concluded that despite the difference between the pro- and antimining groups, both parties are in agreement that the issues should be resolved and that they should move on.