Problem areas

“You will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. All these are the beginning of birth pains, with more to come,” Jesus Himself warned in Matthew 24:6-8.

That’s just how the world is these days. You can’t open your newspaper or scroll your mobile phone’s news app without being bombarded by all forms of strife among nations, among people and among public personalities. The thing is, man creates strife, man should be able to fix things up. If only there is a willingness to move on and away from the sources of strife through dialogue, compromise and fresh ways of viewing things, peace may have a chance.

There are problem areas all around us, big and small. The Ukraine and Hamas wars fall under the big. Then there are communities coming into contact with development issues that they see as threats to their ways of life. These are probably subject to compromises with the proper approaches and incentives.

Up in the Cordilleras, indigenous communities still oppose the exploration for a clean energy resource, geothermal. This has bothered Boomie Bomasang, a former energy official and a native of the Cordilleras. He believes a compromise is possible.

He delivered a speech some years ago before a gathering of his fellow Igorots:

“Fellow Igorots, is there a way to accelerate the process of developing renewable energy resources in the Cordillera? Yes, there is and this is a solution…I believe that the key to facilitating energy and mining projects in the Cordillera is to enable the local people to become honest-to-goodness stakeholders in the energy and mining operations and not just employees, or landowners asking for royalty and/or payment of crop damages.

“I propose that the Igorots be allowed, even assisted, to form their own energy and/or mining companies under Philippine law, which would then apply for the appropriate government licenses and become the Project Owners. If necessary, they could then invite companies with greater financial resources and relevant technical expertise to become the Project Developers under Service Contracts that allow the Project Developers to recover their costs and make reasonable returns on investments.

“I therefore suggest that we start setting up our own bona fide Igorot renewable energy and mining companies (or cooperatives). Said companies would then do the initial pre-development work (i.e. getting government permits, due diligence, feasibility studies, IECs, ECC, FPIC, etc.). After all, we already have so many Igorot professionals (e.g. lawyers, engineers, accountants, etc.) and some Igorot entrepreneurs even have investible funds that can cover the initial costs…

“In my view, the key to the success of said Igorot companies is to broaden the membership and/or ownership in their companies to include everybody in the community, so that everyone is not just a stakeholder, but a shareholder as well…

“I am confident that this is the scheme that will facilitate and/or fast track energy and mining projects in the Cordillera as it is undoubtedly beneficial to all potential stakeholders. I have no doubt that major mining and energy companies would definitely welcome joint venture arrangements with local companies who can assure local support and long-term security and with whom they can enter into contracts under Philippine laws.”

Sounds good and doable. But trying to get everyone on board requires a good appreciation of the common good that is a rarity in today’s world. Hopefully, in the Cordilleras, tradition and respect for elders will help Boomie, who is now an active and energetic octogenarian, see a realization of his idea soon.

The other problem area is Palestine. Yes, the long running conflict between Israel and Palestinian people displaced by the creation of the Jewish state in 1948. It seems like an impossible conflict to fix but only because, according to my friend Manny Gonzalez, world leaders have not been thinking out-of-the-box solutions.

I have no idea why Manny is now thinking of trying to solve this crisis all by himself. But that’s what Manny is. He gets frustrated seeing the world in danger of annihilating itself when there is a better and peaceful way of resolving the conflict.

Manny thinks the obvious non-zero-sum solution is not two-states-side-by-side, but two-states-far-apart.

“Here’s the deal: The oil-wealthy Arab states establish a pot of (say) $200 billion for land acquisition and development. (This may sound absurdly large to the average person, but not to countries sitting on $4 trillion.) Purchase 10,000 square kilometers (roughly Gaza and the West Bank combined) somewhere removed from Israel, on which to establish a sovereign New Palestine.

“One acquisition possibility is Egypt’s southwestern Sinai, isolated by mountains. Another is Jordan’s northeastern protrusion, which it has hardly used since receiving it free in 1922. Six more countries in North Africa might have parcels of land they could spare. Finally, Saudi Arabia could simply donate some of its Red Sea coast, for humanitarian motives. With nine potential site sources and only one site needed, chances are that one country will quickly consent to be the hero.”

Let Manny explain the details. He is producing a video presentation that he is uploading on YouTube. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfFd6VI05wg and the script can be read at  https://plantationbay.com/palestine.

Good to know there are people who are thinking of peaceful solutions to problem areas. If only our hearts can be receptive as well.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco.