MBC to step in to save mining project's benefits

MANILA, Philippines - The head of the Mindanao Business Council (MBC) said the business sector would step in to save the benefits from the proposed Tampakan mining project.

“The Mindanao business sector has decided to step in because we do not want the benefits of this project put to waste,” Vic Lao said in a recent meeting with members of the media and the academe in Davao City.

“The proposed Tampakan project can contribute a solid one percent to the GDP (gross domestic product) and it is of Mindanao’s interest that we all help protect this investment,” Lao said.

Lao lamented that a lot of laws and regulations being put in place are not friendly with business in Mindanao, including mining.

“Mining is one of the biggest contributors to the Mindanao economy and we will not allow the national government to deny Mindanao of this industry and its benefits,” he said.

Last week, the MBC sent a letter to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje expressing the council’s disappointment over his decision on the Tampakan project’s application for an environmental compliance certificate.

The MBC letter signed by Lao himself stated that Paje’s action “based on an unfounded basis undermines and threatens investor confidence and impacts on the stability of the local business environment in Mindanao.”

According to feasibility studies by Sagittarius Mines Inc., the government contractor for the proposed Tampakan project, the mining project “can contribute an additional 10.4 percent to the gross regional domestic product of Regions 11 and 12 annually, throughout the mine life of the project.”

Last year, the Mindanao Development Council also came up with its economic map dubbed as Mindanao 2020 also identifying mining as a key economic driver, Lao said.