Charting one’s own destiny

If the residents of a community and their local leaders support a particular business or economic development in their locality, should outsiders meddle?

The residents of Lobo town in Batangas have spoken. And so have their leaders. They want Egerton Gold Philippines’ to proceed with its gold mining project in the area.

A rally was held recently in Lobo participated in by over 1,200 local residents from all 24 barangays of Lobo to signify their support for the mining project.

Their sentiment in favor of the project is understandable. They have been poor all their lives. They belong to a fourth-class municipality. Their grandparents, parents, their children, and their children’s children suffered and would suffer the same fate. And then a white knight comes along, promising to save them from their misery.

These Lobo residents have received assurances from Egerton officials the environment, which has provided for these folks their livelihood for generations, will be protected and will not be harmed by the proposed mining activity.

The social acceptability by the residents was needed by the Lobo Municipal Council before the latter gives its stamp of approval to the Egerton project.

What is muddling the issue though is the presence of around 300 anti-mining activists who had a television crew with them. This, according to sources, turned what would have otherwise been a peaceful assembly into a chaotic one.

But this attempt to stop the mining project by outsiders did not deter the local townsfolk. They signed a petition, some 3,400 of them, to support Egerton’s mining proposal basically because it would reduce poverty in the municipality, but at the same time protect the environment.

The signed petition was submitted to the Municipal Council for the latter’s perusal.

According to news reports, all 10 concerned barangay councils in Lobo have endorsed the project. The Municipal Council also approved the project to reflect the support of its constituents.

What probably helped influence their decision is a tour of an operating mine being run by Oceana Gold in Nueva Viscaya where the local government officials saw how the community benefitted from the mine’s operations.

But other than that, the community probably felt the company’s sincerity in helping the local townsfolk. It was learned the company has already improved the barangay hall and day care center, given cement bags for the construction of feeder roads and basketball court, and has undertaken tree planting activities in some of the barangays.

The Egerton mining project is expected to contribute around P600 million in taxes during its operation, in addition to employment opportunities. The company also plans to spend around P270 million on environmental enhancement programs and social development programs. These will include tree planting, marine studies, infrastructure, job training, work creation and scholarships for school and university students.

And the company maintains it has done its assignment well and thoroughly. It spent about P90 million to conduct a feasibility study and to design a mine facility that meets international best standards and practices.

And contrary to what anti-mining activists have been saying, the company insists the actual affected area is small. Under the two Mineral Production Sharing Agreements covering about 2,175 hectares, only 26 hectares or less than 1.5% will actually contain mine pits. This comprises 0.137% of the Lobo area.

The proponent, Egerton Gold Philippines Inc is a Filipino company partly funded by MRL Gold Inc. Egerton has discovered a gold resource comprising 444,000 ounces of gold and some silver including a 131,000 Oz Mineral Reserve planned for mining. The mined areas will comprise a maximum of only 26 hectares, according to Egerton Gold Philippines president Edsel Abrasaldo.

Excise tax collections up

Collections from excise taxes imposed on so-called sin products such as tobacco products, fermented liquor and distilled spirits have increased 15.1% to P41.76 billion as of end-May this year alone from P36.29 billion in the first five months of 2014, the Bureau of Internal Revenue reported recently.

Collections from cigarettes grew the fastest, at 18.5 percent to P25.34 billion for the first five months of 2015 P21.38 billion a year ago.

Excise taxes collected from fermented liquor, meanwhile increased 15.8 percent to P11.49 billion from P9.92 billion last year.

Collections from distilled spirits, however, went down 1.3 percent to P4.93 billion, compared to P4.99 billion during the first five months of 2014.

According to BIR, the higher collections from cigarettes were mainly due to the implementation of the sin tax reform law or STRL and in particular the Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System (Irsis) on tobacco that began early this year.

BIR commissioner Kim Henares has said the tax-stamp system would also cover alcohol products before the year ends.

As explained by industry experts, under the STRL, cigarette packs priced below P11.50 are to be taxed P21 this year, up from P17 last year, while those at P11.50 or higher are taxed P28.

Fermented liquor that cost less than P50.60 per liter are now taxed an additional P19 (from P17 last year), while those priced above P50.60 are slapped P22 (from P21). Meanwhile, distilled spirits are slapped P20 plus 20 percent of the net retail price per proof, from P20 plus 15 percent last year.

But according to news reports, the volume of cigarettes withdrawn from warehouses declined 2.4 percent to 1.08 billion packs from 1.11 billion a year ago. In the case of distilled spirits, the volume of removals dropped 12.4 percent to 145.53 million proof liters from 166.18 million proof liters last year.

For fermented liquor, the volume of removals rose 2.8 percent to 581.79 million liters in end-May from 566.21 million liters last year.

In 2013 when the Sin Tax Reform Law was first implemented, total incremental revenue from tobacco and alcohol products reached P51.17 billion, or higher than last year.

For this year, BIR expects to collect P140.4 billion in excise taxes on tobacco, alcohol, minerals, motor vehicles and petroleum.

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