Level playing field in mining; Unity should be the goal

SINGAPORE — I have been attending the Asian Mining Congress yearly because I want to understand just what the industry is about, be acquainted with technological breakthroughs and expand the Philippines’ role in responsible mining. The development of mining in the Philippines is the key to the country’s well being. It is the big industry ticket to be able to advance the economy and provide jobs, education and primary social services for our poor.

The challenge is how to champion responsible mining at the same time that we develop and use God-given mineral resources. That potential wealth is the envy of the world said to be worth a trillion dollars of among the largest deposits of gold, copper and nickel.

Because there is almost nothing in modern living that does not depend on mining — transport, medicine, housing, media etc. to turn our back is hypocritical. What we need to do is to mine responsibly and that can be done only with good governance. It is not an easy task.

Those who deny that this is possible would keep the country backward, unable to feed and house and educate its millions of poor in the guise of protecting the environment. Those who have rich resources like China, Canada, the US, Russia use their natural wealth to push their economy forward. We could do the same.

In this year’s Asia Mining Congress, MGB Director Leo Jasareno delivered the message of responsible mining well and said it was the reason for the delay and careful deliberation in developing the industry.

After Singapore, the Philippine Government lifted its two-year ban on new mining applications from local and foreign investors as a sign of good faith.

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We will revert to backwardness and get black marks if government regulatory offices should punish some companies and favor others in pursuit of responsible mining.

I refer to the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corporation (EDC) that went scot-free after a landslide in its geothermal facility in Leyte that killed 14 workers. Yet it did not mind announcing its huge profits in 2012.

Other mining companies particularly Philex Mining seems to have been less favored by regulatory bodies. Critics say it has been singled out for unfair treatment when unexpected heavy rains accidentally caused a leak in a tailing pond in its Padcal mine in Benguet.

The mine was ordered closed by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and made to pay over P1 billion in fines. It was also ordered to pay P92.8 million for violations of the Clean Water Act. Ditto for the Semirara Coal and Mining Company after a landslide in its site.

The question is why Energy Development (EDC), and the landslide that killed 14 people in its site did not get the same scrutiny and fine from regulatory bodies. According to sources, given the damage from EDC’s landslide it should have been fined even more than Philex.

The Philex leak was non-toxic while the EDC leak was. It leaked a hazardous chemical — Boron — and poisoned a nearby river that farmers use to irrigate their crops.

Could it be because the family that owns EDC also owns powerful media ABS-CBN? Geothermal energy is extractive. It is mining especially as defined in Chile where EDC has expanded. More information should be available to the public on the landslide at its site and how the regulatory bodies dealt with it. It is time to remind government that responsible mining must necessarily include a level playing field.

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One of my treasured books — The World Heritage of the Arab Countries — was given to me by HE Sheikha Mai bint Mohammed al Khalifa, the Minister of culture and information of Bahrain. Her life’s work is to dig deep at the roots of Arab culture to create a tool to unite Bahraini society. “We have more things in common in history and culture than we are aware of,” she said.

How to unify Bahraini society deeply divided between the Sunnis and the Shias applies to Mindanao as well with divisions between MNLF, MILF and the Sultanates. With Sultan Kiram’s followers’ bid to reclaim Sabah differences have come to the surface once again.

I am glad that Al-Jazeera’s Veronica Pedrosa took an arduous 11-hour road journey to be able to talk and listen to Nur Misuari of MNLF and Murad Ibrahim of MNLF. They may have differences but they also have things in common and these are what this column would highlight and urge them to bear in mind.

The task for both leaders and the Sultanate is to find a way to achieve unity in Moroland of the Philippines. Their conflicts owe more to the agenda of outsiders.

It is very well for Murad Ibrahim to say that “Islam” is a means to progress. Why didn’t they pursue that belief in Islam as the binding factor of the Moros in Mindanao? Why does Malaysia have to set their agenda?

The same is true it seems to me for Nur Misuari who said, “The problem is that our homeland is so rich … many people want to occupy this land. And they applied what they call the classical policy of divide and rule so that our people could not unite and fight as one nation to roll back all of these foreign aggressors.”

The Sultanates may be irrelevant today but they are Mindanao’s history. That history includes Sabah. It is a tall order to talk of unity at this point but there is no other lasting solution possible.

Veronica Pedrosa of Al-Jazeera asked the questions that only they can answer. “There is a split between MILF and the other Islamic insurgency group MNLF, so will they be working together now in the new state? Do they want to? And what kind of society will take hold here?”

A pure Islamic state? What will happen to Christians living here?

These questions bring me back to Bahrain and Sheikha Mai. What she says about Sunnis and Shiites applies to MILF and MNLF — that they belong to each other. “They are all bound to Bahrain as their homeland despite differences in interpreting the history of Islam.”

The World Heritage of Arab Countries was put together in Bahrain to remind the world that this region was the cradle of civilization and where the three monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam were founded.