The cancellation of the contracts with the government of the 75 mining companies by DENR chief Gina Lopez is something we should be praising. As she said in an apparent heated exchange of words with Manny V. Pangilinan before Du30’s time, the people in mining areas in this country did not progress the way the mining company owners did. They (the former) are as impoverished as ever.
Indeed, if the history of mining in this country shows only the thickening of the wallets of mining company owners while people in host communities are only left with the detritus of gold extracting operations, the residues of toxic chemicals needed therein, and a ravished surroundings, then the country should be better with the closure of such mines.
The point is what benefit do host communities get? If the mining companies can show substantial benefits to such communities and due regard to the environment during operation, then they should be allowed to operate.
This should be clear and the DENR secretary has said it so often. But it appears that the erring mining companies want to just go by their merry ways—to extract minerals while forgetting their social and environmental responsibilities
Secretary Gina or her men however appear not to have delved deep enough at least in the case of one mining company—which managed not to be closed— in the Cordillera that obtained the Free and Prior Informed Consent of the affected people by releasing hundreds of millions of pesos of accumulated royalties to the lackeys of some politicians. The result—only a few got small portions of the money while a few politicos got the bulk of it. Up to now, the amount has yet to be properly “liquidated or audited.”
Did the money improve the lives of the affected people? Nope.
That is the point.**