New jobs

We should not only look at the jobs that are being shed in the course of the global economic contraction. Most of the jobs we lose now will never come back.

In this economic shakeout, obsolete jobs are weeded out. It would be a waste of our energy and resources if we try to protect jobs that have lost real utility. In this age of intensive personal communications, for instance, it does not make sense to maintain the job category “clerk-typist.” That job belongs to an age long gone.

Apart from counting the jobs we are losing, we ought to survey the new jobs being created. It is the new jobs that are important. They will shape our economy in the coming period.

For instance, our garments industry cannot possibly compete with China’s. There is no sense protecting it. In the present crisis, the garments sector is one of those shedding the most jobs.

But the same instance, we see the rapid rise of other sectors such as business process outsourcing, telecommunications, logistics and contact centers. The services sector — especially those relating to tourism — are coping quite well in the midst of general difficulty.

Instead of narrowing our vision and seeing only job loss, we should expand our view and understand the direction of job shifts happening as our economy, along with the rest of the world, rebalances.

One important rising sector is the mining industry. Even if commodity prices are depressed at the moment, investment in this sector will continue because minerals with industrial uses will always be in demand. Their prices will improve as the global economy recovers.

We have trillions of dollars worth of identified mineral deposits. There are enough minerals in Samar island alone to make it another Dubai. Our mining industry could cushion the adverse effects of the present crisis.

Unfortunately, the growth of our mining industry was retarded by several factors. The Mining Act of 1995, one of the best pieces of ecologically-conscious mining legislation in the world, was trapped in the Supreme Court for a full decade. A number of mining start-ups have been delayed or even aborted because of legal tangles and corrupt local officials. These start-ups could be providing tens of thousands of truly productive jobs now that we need them desperately.

Take the case of the Oro Development Corporation (ODECO) that enjoys a lease to extract iron ore in the mountain town of Doña Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan province.

ODECO had barely started operations when a dispute over its control broke out over a decade ago. The group of investors led by Arturo Mercader found themselves facing a legal challenge from another group led by Marcial Soriano.

The case began when Soriano and his group elected themselves directors and officers of the company in February 2, 1999. On April 8, 2003, the Regional Trial Court declared the action of the Soriano group null and void. The decision of the trial court was affirmed by the Court of Appeals on September 9, 2008.

When the legal tangle commenced, the activities of the mining firm ceased. Hundreds of workers lost their jobs. Investment flows were abruptly terminated. Earnings were suspended.

It was, to make matter worse, a legal contest that once before erupted in violence. August last year, an armed group accompanied by retired general Jovito Palparan tried to forcibly take control of the mine resulting in the death of one security guard. The armed group was led by one Danny Ong, who managed to secure a TRO from judge of the Doña Remedios Trinidad municipal court against the Mercader group. The judge is now facing administrative investigation by the Supreme Court.

Shortly after the Court of Appeals upheld the Regional Trial Court decision that favored the Mercader group, the DENR responded with commendable speed. In its own resolution, the DENR declared the ODECO board headed by Mercader as the rightful owner of the mining lease contract.

In addition to promptly issuing the resolution despite political pressures favoring the other contender, DENR Secretary Lito Atienza directed the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to give due course to a memorandum of agreement between Odeco and Matatag Mining Corporation. This opened the way to the resumption of mining activities, the inflow of investments and the creation of hundreds of jobs.

Governor Joselito Mendoza praised the prompt action of DENR Secretary Atienza in this case. Both the town of Trinidad and the province of Bulacan stand to benefit from huge royalties and taxable revenues generated with the resumption of mining operations. Jobs will be created directly and indirectly. The local governments will earn revenues that will enable them to create more jobs and attract more investments.

This is only one example of decisive action by the courts, prompt action by the regulatory agencies and supportive action by local governments resulting in new jobs being created, new enterprises being born and new sources of revenue being created.

We need this to be replicated everywhere else.

Instead of marching in the streets and demanding more money from government, all of us should look for new ways to get business going in every locality. Mining does provide a strong base for other economic activities to happen. But it is not the only spur for growth, There are many others. We have to find them.

The important point is this: our early recovery from this recessionary phase depends on how we are able to create new areas of economic activity and how speedily we act in order to get these new areas of work going.

Those who want us to focus on protecting old jobs and obsolete sectors of the economy are missing the point.