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Friday, May 26, 2006
Ledesma: Judging from the pulpit
By Jun Ledesma
Sunbursts
THIS is not about the bishops and The Da Vinci Code. This is about a bishop and the fate of the Lafayette Philippines, a multi-million dollar mining firm and of the 20,000 direct employees and about 100,000 indirect beneficiaries and the future of the multibillion-dollar mining industry in the country.
I took special interest in the subject because in the helm of Lafayette is our very own Carlos "Sonny" Dominguez. I truly admire Sonny because he is one hell of a financial engineer who, without fanfare and hoopla, built up investments and expertise to establish varied enterprises that have generated thousands of jobs for Filipinos.
His latest enterprise is Lafayette, which is based in a remote Rapu Rapu Island northeast of Legaspi City in Albay.
Albay, as we all know, is right smack on the typhoon belt and Rapu Rapu is the first land mass that is battered by the fury of the hurricanes that seem to be the only thin abundant in those parts. From what I learned from an impeccable source, you do not hear of man's miseries and agony there because the tempests come too often to destroy. Thus the island is virtually a no man's land.
But the bowels of Rapu Rapu are rich with minerals. Lafayette explored the island and prospects were bright. Foreign investors, encouraged by an assuring edict from the Supreme Court, which upheld the legality of foreign ownership and management of mining operations, partnered with Lafayette, an Australian mining firm. They expanded their exploration and tested the ores. The results were encouraging. Not only was Lafayette celebrating, the few hardy islanders and marginal fishermen in Rapu Rapu were looking forward to a brighter prospects for livelihood and employment.
Unfortunately for Lafayette and the islanders, they are not only up to face the fury of the storms but also the rage of environmentalists. The militant group, led by a Bishop, initially claimed that they found traces of mercury in the entrails of fishes caught in Albay Bay. Lafayette, which has been in mining ventures for decades, was surprised. They assured Sonny Dominguez that they never use mercury in their mining operations.
Lafayette virtually offered its neck on the block and challenged the government to conduct a thorough probe into the allegation of the environmentalists. The government took the challenge and fielded the Bureau of Fisheries and Acquatic Resources and the National Science and Research Institute of the University of the Philippines which, after series of tests, which had suspended any further mining activities in the island, eventually declared that there was no such thing as mercury contamination in the seas of Rapu Rapu and Sorsogon.
The mercury scare almost sent fishermen and fish vendors in Albay bankrupt. This "fishy" contamination story reminds me of an earlier claim by a Canadian-financed environmental group in Davao City, which provided a data to the Davao City Water District that the Talomo-Lipadas and other rivers in Davao City had traces of lead contaminants coming from fertilizers and chemicals used in banana plantations.
After this was proven to be a hoax, another group of environment militants who is also foreign-funded came up later with a fish-kill story claiming that over 30,000 hitos died of chemicals from - again -- the banana plantations. It turned out that the dead hito came from a fishpond in General Santos City. The pond there had ran out of water sourced out from an irrigation canal which had dried up because of drought. The fishes were transported in drums and plastic containers and some just placed in wet jute sacks and brought hurriedly under cover of darkness to Calinan on board Ezuzu Elfs.
My friend, let's just call him Mr. TC, said that under the circumstance there is no way the hito can survive. They're good as dead. And true enough they perished. But did the environmentalists and the owner of the pond ever come up with the truth? They never did. The fish kill and chemical and even lead contamination stories are what sell to donor foundations in Europe and Canada. For the lss than responsible media establishments, the contamination slant is what generates viewership and readership in the rating game. The bottom line for both was and still is money.
The problem of Lafayette is that it is facing a probe body whose chairman, a Catholic Bishop, is the prosecutor and also the judge. The Bishop is an avowed anti-mining advocate (I don't know what stupidity prompted the government to appoint him there) who in turn handpicked his members from the so-called environment militants. The verdict of the probe, naturally, was to shut down not only of Lafayette but of all mining explorations and operations in the country!
Again, the prospect of the mining industry is threatened by such banalities arising from preconceived prejudices.
Indeed there were incidents of mercury pollution, like the one at Minamata Bay in western Kyushu, Japan. The gold processors in Diwalwal, Compostela Valley, for lack of knowledge and capital (and those who refuse to capitalize a modern gold extraction technology) have used mercury and are still at it. These types are truly the legitimate issues of concern and they should be checked for they pose as veritable health hazards.
But technology evolved and has changed the methodologies precisely to address the threats of pollution of mining operations on the environment. We are all one in this. The Philippines is an underdeveloped country with so much untapped natural resources. Its gold deposits alone are estimated to be worth trillions of dollars. If extracted, a speck of this wealth can liberate us from indebtedness. If we go full blasts on our mining industry this will serve as our engine for growth and development. Surely there will be some kind of risks. But only the risk takers deserve the prize of progress and development.
BTW, there will be a taekwondo tournament at the Paradise Beach on May 27 participated in by novice and advance players. Great fun awaits both players and aficionados of this great Korean martial art. Master Vanni delos Santos said that the competition is to enhance the knowledge that the players learned this summer and in line with the discipline which the Philippine Taekwondo Association wants to instill to the players. The tournament is dubbed 2nd Paradise Beach Taekwondo Challenge.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (May 26, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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