Cebu City South District loses a congressman!

I got an invitation to attend a meeting with Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales on Nov. 27 at the Casino Español. Then a day after I got the invitation, the news headlines last Wednesday screamed “Ombudsman sacks Rep. Abellanosa.” Apparently the Office of the Ombudsman found Cebu City South District Rep. Rodrigo “Bebot” Abellanosa guilty of gave misconduct for his school’s involvement in the City of Cebu’s scholarship program, which is a clear case of “Conflict of Interest.”

This was the case filed by Philip Banquiran last December 2012 before the Office of the Ombudsman for violations of Republic Act. No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. This must have been the speediest act by the Office of the Ombudsman that we’ve seen in a long time. Of course, Rep. Abellanosa insists that there was no conflict of interest in this case as he had no hand in determining what schools would be accredited in the scholarship program as this was the job of the Office of the Mayor.

But Cebuanos now too well that Rep. Abellanosa and former Mayor Tomas Osmeña were real pals… to the point that when the latter ran for re-election as Cebu City Mayor… he chose Abellanosa to take his seat as Congressman for the South District of Cebu City, which he won.      

Rep. Abellanosa also tried to use the worn out “Aguinaldo Doctrine” as his defense, but the Office of the Ombudsman ruled that the Aguinaldo Doctrine could only be used when an elected person charged with graft and corruption gets re-elected into the same office. This could not be used in the case of Bebot Abellanosa as he was only recently elected as Congressman in Cebu City. So with this unexpected decision, the South District of Cebu City has lost a Congressman, the first ever Congressman to be booted out of office.

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Last Thursday I read the speech of Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) that was featured in the Business page of the Philippine STAR entitled “Mining is not the enemy, poverty is” and let me reprint part of MVP’s conclusion, “Let me close by repeating what I’ve said before, mining is not the enemy. Poverty is! The lack of the most basic necessities, the lack of opportunities, the lack of choices — these pernicious deficits have plagued out people for far too long, in far too many places.” Finally MVP added, “In the end, it all comes down to a very basic choice. The Australians, Indonesians, Canadians, Brazilians have made their choice. If they can do it and succeed, why can’t we?”

I fully concur with MVP on Mining, because we in Cebu used to host the World’s biggest copper mine in Asia, the Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. (ACMDC) and the 3^rd largest copper mine in the world. Back then anyone who took engineering worth his salt dreamed that they would work at the Atlas Mines. My mother’s brother, Dr. Oliverio Segura was the number 2 man at the Atlas owned hospital and my cousins studied in the only La Salle school in Lutopan, Toledo City. Toledo became a city thanks to Atlas Mining. Atlas began operations in 1935 bringing jobs to many Cebuanos and launching careers of many engineers.

But things changed in 1991 when their militant workers staged a crippling strike, which ended with the closure of Atlas Mining in 1994. Things rapidly deteriorated in Toledo City because of the closure of the mines because they could no longer expect any taxes from the shutdown copper mine. The only saving grace for Cebu was that the power plant exclusively for the mines now served the Cebu Grid.

Soon top engineers found jobs abroad and the workers too became Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). But just 12 kilometers away is the town of Balamban, which played host to the Tsuneishi Cebu Heavy Industries, which build 100,000 DWT cargo ships. I understand that Atlas Mining as resumed its operations, but on a smaller scale than before.

At this point, we must all learn a lesson from the Atlas Mining experience… that responsible mining is one of key to solving our poverty more so that mining areas are so far away from the urban centers. Perhaps the biggest stumbling blocks are those self-proclaimed environmentalists who demand zero mining in the country. Many of them belong to the so-called allied front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

When we have a government that finally decides that Mining should be part and parcel of the Philippine industry… then we should promote it and stop listening to those self-proclaimed environmentalists. Of course it should also mean that those engage in the mining industry should follow strict rules that are already in place in the Philippines. I know that some Catholic clergy are against mining, but if they saw what they used to do with the Atlas Mines in Toledo, maybe they would change their minds. Yes, I fully agree with MVP… Mining is one key solution to the poverty of our people.

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