When a problem gets too big, the solution is to proverbially douse it with water just like what you do in stopping a fire from spreading.
“Mine your business?” The drastic sweeping reforms imposed by Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez is a welcome development to many, more so among environmentalists, but is also causing headaches to President Duterte. Lopez has ordered the closure of 23 mining firms, the suspension of five more with a six-month deadline to shape up and the cancellation of 75 mineral production sharing agreements (MPSAs).
The mining industry has, indeed, over mined our resources and undermined our laws, but are now facing their nemesis and match in Lopez, a scion of a wealthy family who has the mind, the heart and the true grit or guts to push for reforms.
For minding their mining businesses and hitting strong and hard, it is likely some interlocking interests close to some Cabinet people, representatives and senators got hurt. Thus, Lopez’s confirmation was blocked, although she got reappointed by Duterte, who has wavered a bit owing to her drastic, wholesale and decisive actions. Meanwhile, mining firms are considering filing graft charges against her.
Duterte’s dilemma over Lopez. No one could deny Lopez’s facts over the environmental damage and the long-term social havoc caused by mining. Her only “fault” is that she did it one time, big time wholesale.
She should have differentiated between strategy and tactics, without losing track of her goals and mission. Simply put, she should have done it in phases, while simultaneously implementing programs, like agri-tourism and ecotourism, or the adoption of Australian/Canadian responsible mining methods and technologies.
However, if she does it phase by phase, she may be accused of selective favoritism, which puts her in a dilemma as the law must be applied equally to all. Duterte is also in a dilemma amid the opposition from some of his supporters in the Cabinet, Congress, and in business. Thus, Duterte issued a statement saying what Lopez did was a mess.
Lopez’s wholesale action has forced mining firms to gang up on her, and it’s admirable that she still strongly stands pat on what she claims is truthful or factual, what is rightful and what is for the common good. Her transparency and integrity are her strong points, but in politics these are not good enough. She, therefore, needs the support of Duterte, who has the political will, knows strategy and tactics, is familiar with astute political strategists from history like Machiavelli and Sun Tzu, and plays with hyperboles by dishing out white lies or three incorrect statements out of five that he says. While we detest Duterte’s human-rights records, he needs the support to make it easy for him to back up fully Lopez’s actions.
But what they say is not what you see. Mining firms may drumbeat their contributions to the economy, employment and to government revenues, as well as complain about who is going to repay them for their billions of lost investments, actual losses and lost opportunities.
But for Lopez, apart from her impassionate speeches, she believes losing the mining industry is worth the gamble, as it is not really contributing much anyway with its gross value added averaging only about 0.65 percent of GDP for 2012-2016, and this already includes nonmetallic mining. If you collapse the entire industry, it will affect only less than 1 percent of the economy. Moreover, it shares only about 5 percent of total exports, and accounts for about 0.6 percent of total employment.
What is also going around social media are actual video footages of the massive destruction that is happening on the ground. On the argument that to see is to believe, what the miners are saying are no match to what people can see from the videos.
Without alternatives, actions won’t hold water. Nonetheless, there are valid issues that need to be addressed immediately because stopping mining operations drastically in compliance with environmental laws, but without establishing ready program alternatives, may be worst as such an approach does not hold water figuratively.
Building livelihood alternatives is crucial and can take time, but what people need are instant but significant jobs on a mass scale, similar to what US President Franklin D. Roosevelt did at the height of the 1930s Great Depression, when he created 4 million jobs in a month’s time, equivalent to over 10 million today, says a book by Nick, titled When FDR put the Nation to Work.
These were productive jobs, whereby millions of jobless illiterates underwent basic literacy and numeracy skills training from carpentry, plumbing, electrical, etc., then tasked to create physical wealth by building roads, farm silos, bridges, hospitals, etc. The basin is the catch? Lopez’s agri-tourism and ecotourism thrusts are good, but before they can prosper what is necessary is a prerequisite program that can generate productive jobs instantly as she lays down the foundations for her goals.
One vital and viable program is the building of thousands of catch basins in these mining areas and other mountain barangays. For one, these catch basins can harness rainfall for irrigation. Second, they can be a source of water for household use. Third, surrounding areas become more fertile for agriculture, vegetable gardening, mini forestry or orchard fruit tree farming. Fourth, they can be used to raise fish. Last, they are an effective climate-adaptation strategy that prevents not only soil erosion but downstream floods.
E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com