By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
The mining industry in the Philippines came under close scrutiny when Ms. Gina Lopez assumed the mantle of the DENR Secretary. She created a lot of jitters when she conducted an audit of all local mining companies but at the same time, made many environmentalists elated. Pocket mining operations were not included in the audit.
Just the audit attempt in itself, implies that mining companies are either responsible or irresponsible in their operations or activities.
Benguet is one of those indirectly affected by the audit since it is not only the capital of sub-tropical vegetable production in the Philippines but also a major mining province. Three of the biggest mining companies are hosted by the towns of Itogon (Benguet Corporation), Mankayan (Lepanto Mines), and Tuba (Philiex Mines). After the audit, Benguet Corp and Lepanto were two of the 20 companies suspended for various violations. Only 11, Philex Mines included, passed the test but are under continuous monitoring.
A couple of days ago a columnist in the Philippine Star, Mr. Babe Romualdez, extolled the good deeds of Philex Mining Corp, the country’s biggest gold and copper producer. He mentioned that the company “paid the municipality of Itogon in Benguet close to P30 million in real property tax (RPT), covering a five-year period for a proposed tailings storage facility in the host barangay of Ampucao. About 50 percent of the real property tax or P15 million will be allocated for the mandated Special Education Fund (SEF), which will be equally divided between the municipality of Itogon and the provincial government of Benguet.”
He quoted a company official that the “SEF will be used to build classrooms and other facilities as well as pay for the salary of teachers” and that the “total amount is more than enough to build 10 classrooms that could each accommodate as many as 50 pupils and pay for the salaries of 200 government employees for four months”.
Not so long ago, the company was penalized by about 2 billion pesos for a breach in its tailings dumpsite. This resulted in pollution of the Agno river. That it was given a clean bill of health by the present dispensation speaks well of their commitment for a more systematic and responsible mining operations.
According to Romualdez, the company is one of the top tax payers in the mining sector. It has no tax liabilities in both local and national governments.
This brings us to a question of whether a mining company is responsible or irresponsible in its practices. To those who are totally against mining, there is no such thing as responsible mining. Let it be said here that mining in itself is not condemned even by the Bible. Therefore, there must really be responsible mining activities or operations.
Among others, there is irresponsibility when, in the course of mining operations, there are no safety measures in place, when the environment is destroyed, when trees are freely cut without even permits, when siltation ensues, when tailings are not properly contained or carelessly dumped, dusts are the free body powder of people.
The irresponsibility becomes even worse when a company pays its taxes elsewhere and not in its host community, as what some big companies in CAR are doing. Also when the long-term source of livelihood of the people is replaced by a short-term but “high” and immediate gratification as when an agricultural area is converted into a mining area, or an entire community is displaced. When a company is delinquent in its tax payment, it adds more woes to the community. Reverse the above and you will see mining operations that are decidedly responsible.
A mining engineer–friend told me that a responsible mining operation will consider the plight of community people, especially the indigenous groups. He said that they should certainly be the top beneficiary of such activity. He muses that he would like to see Baguio free of any beggar since the locality is teeming with mineral wealth.
By the way, not one of the 20 mining firms that were suspended was ever closed contrary to the wishes of some groups that specific mines should be permanently closed so they will no longer pose a threat to life and the environment. **
