Sifting fact from fiction

Those gathering 10 million signatures to keep Palawan free from mining may be proceeding from the wrong premise and therefore, advocating the wrong solution.

They say the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) was created in 1992 through the Strategic Environmental Plan to ensure the sustainability of Palawan and that since sustainability is holistic by its very definition, then PCSD should aim for “preservation of nonrenewable resources.”

But nowhere in the law does it mention “preservation of nonrenewable resources.” For if that were true, that would not only be unrealistic, it would also throw us back to the Stone Age. Then we might as well close the whole of Palawan, prevent tourists from going there, prohibit any kind of exploration.

It is the policy of the State to protect, develop and conserve the country’s natural resources to preserve and enhance the environment while pursuing socio-economic goals. The State can promote sustainable development through proper conservation, utilization and development of natural resources to provide optimum yields on a continuing basis. In other words, we should use our natural resources in a responsible way.

It is also claimed that under the PCSD’s watch, Palawan has actually lost 16 percent of its forest cover. PCSD was supposed to protect Palawan because of its biodiversity, and yet, among the provinces in the country, Palawan appears to be the most ravaged. What is worse, they added, is that the 16 percent decline was recorded before the Mining Act was passed.

The PCSD disputes this assertion. In 1992, Palawan’s forest was recorded at 738,886 hectares representing about 52 percent of Palawan’s total land area. In 2005, forest cover went down to 46 percent. This means that for 13 years, the decline was only about six percent. But the decrease in forest cover is not due to mining but mostly to conversion of public lands into alienable and disposable lands to support the government’s land titling and agrarian land reform programs. The reported forest loss is comparatively very low as deforestation rate was a record high at 19,000 hectares per year in the early 80s before the SEP Law was passed.

It is likewise being asserted that opening Palawan to more mining companies will lead to massive deforestation.

The PCSD says the allegation is grossly inaccurate and lacking in well-established data support. PCSD scientific findings directly relate actual loss of the standing trees in Palawan not primarily due to mining but to continuing harvest of timber for domestic consumption, forest land use conversion for agricultural development and continuous establishment of human settlements to accommodate the province’s increasing population growth rate at an average of 3.5 percent per annum, mostly due to in-migration.

Moreover, according to PCSD, the disastrous forest fires experienced in 1998 that engulfed southern Palawan, particularly Bulanjao Range and Mt. Mantalingahan tip, was aggravated by the El Niño phenomenon. The 1998 forest fires practically shaved off a substantial portion of the existing natural forest. Significantly, DAR’s implementation of the CARP law for the past two decades which necessitated issuance of CLOAs including the national government’s land titling program implemented by the Land Management Bureau of the DENR likewise converted about 35,260 has. of the forest lands in southern and central Palawan into agriculture and development. This forest land use conversion represented almost 50 percent of the forest loss.

It is also argued that mining takes away the right of the people, especially the poor, to fish in the sea and to enjoy nature for free.

The few mining companies operating in Palawan dispute this. MacroAsia, for instance, sponsors on the average 120 scholars every school year. None of the scholars are malnourished, it says. And it also says it has provided 29 jetmatic water pumps to make potable water more accessible to the communities.

As Jerry Brimo of Nickel Asia pointed out, when groups do their advocacy, they should do their work responsibly and refrain from using “half-truths, negative spins and outright deception”.

Confed lauds BOC, SRA

The Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations (Confed), the country’s biggest aggrupation of sugar farmers, has expressed confidence that the technical smuggling of imported premixes which is not only denying government of much-needed revenues and the sugar industry of an important local market, will finally be put to a stop.

This was after Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez directed the BOC Post Entry Audit Group and Assessment Division to assess the correct tariff on the imported premixes during a meeting last Thursday between Alvarez, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) chief Ma. Regina Martin, other customs officials, and leaders of the sugar industry.

Alvarez said there is a need to stop the practice of misdeclaring cane or beet sugar as sugar-based food preparations not only to plug a major leak in the BOC’s revenue collection but also to help maintain a balanced and rationalized supply of sugar vis-à-vis demand which is vital to the viability and survival of the local sugar industry.

Confed lauded the efforts of Alvarez and Martin for hearing the plight of local sugar farmers and taking action against these domestic sugar substitutes.

SRA data show that almost one million bags of sugar “premix” were imported from January 2010 to March 2011 by Coca Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) and were all declared as “sugar containing added flavoring or coloring matter” under tariff line AHTN 1701.91.00A. By declaring these import shipments under AHTN 1701.91.00A, CCBPI was able to escape paying the proper duties.

SRA laboratory analyses have shown that this so-called “premix” is almost entirely white refined sugar, and under the Tariff and Customs Code, these imports are considered intermediate products or raw materials in the processing of beverages and should have been declared as refined white sugar which carries a tariff of 38 percent.

Because of this misclassification, the government has been deprived of much needed revenues that could exceed P750 million, Confed said.

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