One more shot at prosperity

We’ve only been a few weeks from the time that former Chief Justice Reynato Puno and other justices announced grandly the start of the debate on constitutional reform. Already it is forgotten, cast by the wayside. This pattern has been repeated so often but we don’t seem to learn the lesson. There is no national debate or will there ever be one. Politicians and media are already talking again about presidential candidates in 2016 and senatorial candidates in 2013 with the President himself declaring who will be his candidate.

I have a high regard for my countrymen, but I weigh it against what is good or bad for the country. What hinders us from moving forward is the presidential system in which the election of leaders depends on popularity and money from vested interests. We should learn from the Indians who recognize that if the majority of voters are ignorant, it is foolhardy to expect them to elect capable leaders nationally. They vote for a party and the party seeks their best and most capable member as the Prime Minister.

The more we postpone constitutional reform the more it hurts the country, the more we will be unable to provide for the same ignorant majority.

By opting for a parliamentary structure, the unintelligent vote will not overwhelm the intelligent vote.

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Last Tuesday I attended the Sagittarius Mining Inc launch of “100 Years… 100 Women… One World of Responsible Minerals Development.” at the planetarium of the Mall of Asia.

Present were several indigenous women wearing their tribal vests. They wore this on top of their SMI uniforms as employees of the mining company. What do you say of groups who say no to mining? “Those who say that are outsiders. We want mining because it is the only way we can ever improve our lives,” they told me.

Former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Delia Albert, a passionate advocate of mining, spoke to the group. She grew up in the mining community of Baguio and knows from experience what mining does for the poor in isolated, undeveloped areas.

But too little is known by the general public about how mining has been an engine for community development in far-flung areas of the country.

Albert told the audience that our hero, Jose Rizal was so forward looking he said: “Very probably the Philippines will defend with indescribable ardor the liberty she has bought at the cost of so much blood and sacrifice.”

With the new men and (Albert: women also!) that will spring from her bosom and their remembrance of the past, she will perhaps enter openly the road of progress with which a young man (and woman) returns to cultivate his father’s farmland so long devastated and abandoned due to the negligence of those who had alienated it. Then the mines - gold, iron, copper, lead, coal and others minerals - will be worked again and will help solve the problem of poverty. “Even at that time he knew that Filipinos could not rely on farming alone, if for different reasons. But he would be surprised to know that his vision of using our mineral resources to raise the living standards of our poor is largely unfulfilled.

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And to think that we are blessed with an estimated $1.4 trillion worth of mineral reserves in gold, copper, nickel, aluminium and chromite among others. What have we done with this wealth? Very little. We have barely tapped the potential.

According to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) the Philippine archipelago is second in the world in gold and third in copper resources. The country is ranked top five in the world for overall mineral reserves, covering an estimated nine million hectares, although less than two percent has received mining permits.

More importantly, we have a good regulatory framework if correctly implemented. It is both attractive to investments while taking care of the people and the environment. With one of the best mining laws in the world promulgated during the Ramos government, the mining world looked to the Philippines as a success story of the industry. But this soon fizzled out with policy blunders, bureaucratic hurdles and disinformation.

A spokesman for a leading international concern told me setting up mining projects is a long term effort that needs consistent laws and policies. The absence of a stable political and legal environment drives away many investors from the Philippines.

A survey done only last year by the Asean Business Advisory Council ranks the Philippines as one of the least attractive investment destinations.

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Today we are being given another chance to show our capacity to be an able economic partner in the region with some huge mining projects lined up for mega investments, among them the Tampakan Mining of Sagittarius Mines Inc. which promises more than $5B for development. So too the Rio Tubba project in Palawan that is being opposed by groups shelling out disinformation. There is a need to keep the public informed so they are not misled.

The Sagittarius Mining Inc. has put up an exhibit in the Discovery of Science at the Planetarium in the Mall of Asia to tell the story of cooperation between investors, technical people and the community - mostly indigenous people to create wealth. I think politicians, NGOs, churchmen and media should take time and see the exhibit for themselves.

Better still if they were to go to Tampakan, talk to the people involved in order to make correct decisions.

Contrary to disinformation the municipality of Bataraza, host of the large-scale Rio Tubba mine in Palawan and the world-class Coral Bay processing plant, is not poor. It is a first-class municipality that grew from 15,000 to more that 58,000 today since the mining began.

The combined Rio Tuba-Coral Bay operations fund over P60 million a year as required in Social Development Management Plan (SDMP), in practice they spend more than this amount. These include an elementary and high school (total enrolment of 1,250 students) and a hospital (over 2,000 patients per year), both of which are available to community residents free of charge. Gawad Kalinga is its partner in building houses for the IP community.

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President Noynoy will be on to a good thing if he supports the $5.9 billion potential investment of Swiss mining firm Xstrata in South Cotabato. To date, local authority has balked at allowing work at the mineral-rich Tampakan mine. South Cotabato governor Arthur Pingoy himself said Xstrata’s investments in the mine could be the single biggest investment in the country.