Finding a creative solution to destructive mining

The mining industry is giving the Duterte administration a contentious situation that it needs to resolve as a rite of passage. Nobody would probably envy the position of Secretary Gina Lopez right now for being the head of a department faced with the tricky task of performing a balancing act for the sake of all concerned: the residents—mostly poor ethnic minorities—of the areas affected by mining, the business owners of the mines operations, the government and mother nature.

How the President and his Cabinet will handle the situation may well speak a thousand words about how big business may or may not continue to have a stronghold on politics in this country.