THE Finance department is only studying it now, but we are for the levying of additional taxes on mining.
We know the Chamber of Mines and the mining companies are upset that more taxes are being considered. Some mining companies claim that up to 70 percent of their gross income is already being raked in by the government.
But we agree with the Finance department people that the mining sector must contribute more cash to the government because of health and environmental problems they cause, and these require the government to spend huge sums to handle.
We also agree, again contrary to the desires of the Chamber of Mines, that the Mining Act of 1995 which now governs that industrial sector, should be replaced with one that serves the interest of ordinary Filipinos and more strictly prevents mining operations from destroying our country’s natural wealth in mountains, forests, rivers and biodiversity.
The alternative law should change the present situation created by the government’s mining policy—based on the Mining Act of 1995—that works against the environment, the human rights not just of the indigenous peoples where mines are located but also of the regular Filipino citizens dwelling in the areas near the mines that earn huge incomes for the mining corporations but in reality very little for both the national and local governments.
The present policy on mining has failed to produce the promised benefits to the Filipino people and the government that mining companies and their lobbyists who dazzled the Congress that passed and the President in power then who enacted the Mining Act of 1995. Because of the defects of the law—and of course the incompetence of and cupidity of officials—lack of transparency, corruption and bad governance have characterized the way mining is being run.
That is why some of horrible mining tragedies have happened. Among these are the Marcopper disaster in 1996, which is still among the worst industrial tragedies and has made the Boac a dead river. The Rapu-Rapu mine accident in 2005 brought about a fish-kill so massive that spanned the Albay Gulf and Sorsogon Bay. In the 16 years that mining policy has been based on Republic Act 7942 or the Mining Act of 1995, ugly events and mining-caused phenomena have increased—the dislocation of indigenous peoples, land subsidence, acid mine drainage, landslides, toxification of agricultural lands, destruction of aquatic ecosystems, the death of animal species and other catastrophes.
The indigenous peoples among our fellow citizens have been the most unjustly treated by some of the unscrupulous mining companies and local government officials working with them. The new law should more adequately save them from social injustice and direct personal indignity. The law requires mining operations to secure the Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) of communities affected before any project begins. More often than not corporations and their local agent, abetted by officials, tell lies to the unlettered tribals about the physical effects and social consequences of mining projects. They IPs who were misinformed, deluded, into giving their Free Prior Informed Consent end up as displaced persons—some coming to Metro Manila to add to its millions of squatters and beggars.
Some mining projects have invaded watersheds and forests—flagrantly against the law, causing a large amount of illegal logging too. This invasion and forest-destruction have produced threats to the health and well-being of the communities around the mines, the communities higher up in the mountain and the communities downstream.
Cost of devastations more than gov’t revenue
What makes it a bigger tragedy—or a bitter comedy of misgovernance in a failed state—is that the cost of the devastation caused by these mines is very much more than the miserably small provincial, town and barangay revenue from the mines in their locality.
Our columnist Ms. Anabelle Plantilla, who is the chief operating officer of Haribon, writes, that: “The industry is plagued with under-declaration, tax avoidance and tax evasion. From 2000-2009, the under-collection of excise taxes was 65.5 percent. Among the many defects of the Mining Act of 1995 is that it contains provisions that do not allow the national government to get a fair share of mining revenues.
“Employing its more than generous gains, the mining industry has embarked on lobbying and media campaigns to mislead the political leadership and the public with statements and advertisements on the benefits of mining. It has even articulated a veiled threat that any obstacles to mining, such as environmental restrictions, will harm economic development. Contrary to all this industry hype, local governments and communities have not felt the benefits but the adverse effects of mining. Their experience has led them to take action to protest against the encroachment of actually irresponsible mining projects and protect themselves from their devastating consequences.
“According to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, 7 out of 16 mining projects in the advanced exploration and feasibility financing stages and 25 out of 28 projects in the development and expansion stages are facing opposition from local populations and their officials.
“Over 20 LGUs have issued moratoriums and environmental regulations to prevent mining firms from causing further damage to the environment, to livelihoods and to lives in their jurisdictions. The facts speak for themselves. In the last decade, from 2000 to 2009, mining and quarrying together accounted for no more than 0.91 percent of Philippine GDP. In the same period, the industry’s contribution to total employment was a mere 0.376 percent. Unnecessary incentives have also contributed to making the revenue effort of the mining industry to be slightly more than half of the revenue effort of the country.
“Mining has contributed significantly to exports. But, without the development of downstream industries, that is a double-edged sword. As it spreads, it will cause a resource curse situation and hamper future development of the economy. Even if exports give rise to growth, this growth is clearly unsustainable. It will cause dependence on exports that deplete non-renewable resources.”
The new policy must reflect a vision for a viable and sustainable mining program.
“Without such a vision, new mining projects such as those recently procured by the President in China, will benefit only those companies, not the country, not the Filipino people and not the Philippine government (national as well as local).”
