Added business cost

As if doing business in the Philippines wasn’t difficult enough.

In the 2014 Doing Business survey by the International Finance Corp. (IFC), the Philippines ranked 108th out of 189 economies covered.

While this meant that the Philippines improved 30 notches from its rank of 138th in the 2013 edition, the sad fact is that we are still 6th highest in the ASEAN and that there are 107 economies that are better than us in terms of business-friendly regulations.

In the top 10 of the list of most business-friendly are Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the United States, Denmark, Malaysia, South Korea, Georgia, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

The survey, of course, does not measure all factors affecting business. It instead simply measures how much red tape private businesses encounter when dealing with government and ranks economies in terms of how easy it is to set up a business.

The Philippine mining industry probably does not see how our government can rejoice with the “improved” ranking when all indications point to the fact that the country is becoming a very difficult place to do business in.

Not only is our mining industry faced with government mining policies that do not promote the growth of the sector, but instead stifle it. It also has to deal with environmental activists and host LGUs which impose oftentimes unreasonable conditions that make it difficult, if not impossible, for mining companies to operate.

But there is another threat to mining operations, especially in Mindanao. The revolutionary movement in the Philippines, in particular the New People’s Army (NPA), is said to be opposed to large-scale mining by foreign and local mining companies, claiming “this will only plunder the ancestral lands and natural resources of the people and wreak havoc on their environment, livelihood and communities.”

There are, of course, those who say that it is just a matter of paying the proper “revolutionary taxes” in order for the mining companies to operate unhampered.

The military in Mindanao said the recent NPA raid on Agusan del Norte-based Philippine Alstron Mining Co. was only a ploy to demand more protection money from Alstron.

After Agusan del Norte, the rebels raided and torched several vehicles of Apex Mining in Maco and the drilling equipment of St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd. in Pantukan, both in Compostela Valley.

There were no casualties, but the daring raid on the mining companies showed the rebels are determined to stop large-scale mining operations in the mineral-rich region.

The rebels are eyeing big businesses in Mindanao, including SAGCL, Glencore-Extrata, Philco, Dolefil, Del Monte, Sumifru, and TVI Resource Development Philippines.

NPA and Moro rebels had previously attacked TVI Resources in Zamboanga province. At about the same time last year, some 300 NPA guerrillas staged coordinated raids on three mines operating in Claver, Surigao del Norte province, destroying more than P1 billion worth of mining equipment and killing at least three security guards. The rebels also kidnapped four people who were later released.

The military said the refusal of Taganito Mining Corp. (TMC), Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp. and Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) to give in to the NPA demand for a revolutionary tax prompted the attacks.

Jorge Madlos, a regional rebel spokesman, said “military operations in Mindanao have escalated and have become more extensive with the aim to thwart the ever growing and widespread people’s protest against destructive mining operations.”

Compostela Valley is one of the remaining bailiwicks of the NPA, whose suspected political leader, Benito Tiamzon, was arrested last month. Communist rebels said the recent attacks are punitive actions for the companies’ alleged environmental destruction and abuses against workers of indigenous people.

According to Daniel Ibarra, spokesman of the Mindanao rebel command, these companies grossly and repeatedly violated regulations of the People’s Democratic Government with regards to environmental protection, workers’ welfare and people’s livelihood.

The rebel spokesman said Apex was attacked for several reasons, including the expansion of underground and open-pit mining operations, expansion in reserved forest areas, failure to address and indemnify casualties after two landslides, low wages, retrenchment and threat of retrenchment of its mining workers.

In the case of St. Augustine, it “wantonly violated revolutionary policies when they operated outside of their tenements, and due to setting up of military outposts, conducting regular seizure and check-up of things brought in and out by small-scale miners, controlling of movement of civilians, and aggressive psychological warfare against tribal leaders through dole-out projects.”

St. Augustine officials deny such accusations, most specially “controlling of movement of civilians.” Since when has helping communities through livelihood, health, and education projects been considered an aggressive psychological warfare?

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