Present-day galleons

Saturday, January 28, 2012

IN THE past, there were state-subsidized galleons sent out to colonize and pillage, the colonized countries would be left to deal with their dead and burnt homes. Their gold stolen. That is for villages that dare stand up against the marauding fleet.

Those who welcome the marauders refer to these foreign men as trading partners who are welcomed with pomp and revelry, after which gold, precious stones, and foodstuff were easily exchanged for wine and guns and non-essential but marketed as must-have trinkets. Other traders come in peace and prosper as they settle in. That was then.

Today, colonization is a thing of the past, but the marauders remain, having taken a new shape. The galleons are now called foreign direct investments and take the shape of corporations.

But like the galleon trade of long ago, not all galleons bring death and slavery, there are those that prosper from the goodwill of the welcoming villages. While there are those who take much more than they were given the permission to do so. Their superior weapons and warriors complemented by local cohorts who stand to benefit from the attacks.

This is how Dr. Catherine Coumans, research coordinator of MiningWatch Canada described what it is that Filipinos are up against as their mountains are turned over, claim after claim, for giant mining companies to pillage and mine, during last week’s controversial International Conference on Mining in Mindanao organized by the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU) and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (Ceap).

The conference, as chief organizer ADDU president Joel E. Tabora SJ described it, was a gathering of like-minded people designed for each one to learn from each other and find strength in their common beliefs.
Thus, amid the protestations of the mining industry led by the Chamber of Mines in the Philippines, Fr. Tabora simply said, “We didn’t want them here.”

“We wanted an opportunity for people who are like of mind to get together so we can come to a bigger understanding of the issues,” he said.

Taking centerstage in the conference was the giant Tampakan project by the Sagittarius Mines, which is being pushed in the lush green mountains of Tampakan in South Cotabato, Colombio in Sultan Kudarat, and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur.

More Threatening Than Galleons

Coumans pointed out that in today’s rush for the riches of poor countries, the people of these countries are faced with even greater threats than being enslaved or their villages pillaged.

She said that communities that are standing against mining, worldwide, have similar values they are trying to protect. These are: clean surface and ground water, access to land for food security and livelihood, identity as linked to particular lands and territories and cultural and economic practices that are intricately linked to lands, and future potential development options that are incompatible with mining.
Much like the Tampakan mines up above the rice fields, farm lots, and fishing grounds of residents downstream.

In a paper presented by Mindanawon Initiatives for Cultural Dialogue executive director Perpy Vina Tio on mining in Mindanao, she pointed out that specific areas of conflict for Tampakan are the promises of development as against the resource-environment and the economic-social costs.

The proposed multi-billion dollar mines will be on the watershed areas of these three provinces, on land that is still forested.

And then there is the other conflicts regarding politics of power and interests where the state or government is singing a tune that runs contrary to what the people are saying amid promises that do not account for what will be lost but only give a pittance for the benefits and profits the mining company stands to rake in.

There is also the conflict on the absence of permission from the other areas that will be affected, that may be outside the mine operations site, but will be bearing the impact of its operations.

“Follow the waste stream,” Tio said, and one will find that those along the waste stream has not even been consulted much less been sought out for their consent.

Asked if there has been any sign of real prosperity in the mine sites they have selected for their case studies in Tampakan in South Cotabato, Balabag in Zamboanga del Sur, and Claver in Surigao del Norte, she said, the only change in lifestyle that is perceptible is that the villages now have houses made of hollow blocks, residents have motorcycles, and liquor comes aplenty. In following the waste, it seems one sees a wasted lifestyle as well.

Lost In Translation

More alarming is the lack of transparency of information to allow the residents to come up with critical and informed decisions.

The lack of transparency was pointed out by Mr. Clive Montogmery Wicks, who is a conservation and development consultant specializing in the impact of extractive industries. The environment and social impact assessment report by SMI on their Tampakan mines is a 3,000-page tome that can hardly be understood by anyone, much less someone who is not well-versed in technical English, like the indigenous peoples in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Davao del Sur.

A check with an insider of the company that prepared the SMI’s ESIA showed the main report in digital copy is already 95mb, while the whole report is 225mb. Now if you know how data usage in megabytes works, one megabyte is approximately 180,000 words in plain text. That length is just around one regular sized novel. Multiply that by 225, then you get 225 novels all in one report. How transparent can a report that is as long as reading 225 novels be?

(The reason why we knew of the data size is because Sun.Star was requesting for a digital copy through email. It couldn’t be sent and thus we had to wait for the DVD sent through courier).

Dr. Robert Goodland, environmental scientist, on the other hand, was furious about not just the 3,000-page ESIA, but that the ESIA does not even cover two major components of the mining project.

One is the 46-kilometer slurry conveyor belt that will bring the mine waste from the site to the new port downstream where “the slurry will be ‘dewatered’ producing tons of toxic wastewater”.

The second is the 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant. This, despite the risks the project poses to six rivers in the three provinces. This alone, he said, “Could devastate all fisheries and irrigated crops.” Most affected will be the agriculture downstream in Davao del Sur.
Incidentally, Davao del Sur is not opposed to SMI.

Just last January 6, 2012, Environment and Natural Resources Ramon Jesus P. Paje issued an order denying the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) to SMI, but only for one single reason: the moratorium on open pit mining by South Cotabato.

Asked to give his view on how the order was issued and on what reason it was based on when more compelling reasons could have been cited, all based on environmental facts and laws, Mr. Wicks replied that in a recent talk with Paje, it appears that the secretary was ill-informed and even asked his legal staff why he was not provided with the information Mr. Wicks was pointing out in a ten-page paper he brought with him.

“The attorney got very embarrassed which makes me think that a) he didn’t know about these; b) he did not pass on such information to Mr. Paje, and c) there was going to be no benefit to the Philippines,” Wicks said. “In the end, Mr. Paje said, let me take the ten-page paper and let me get back to you.”

Among the points the DENR could have easily pointed out against SMI, is that DENR bans mining at sites above 1000 m for strong environmental reasons.

The Tampakan site, Dr. Goodland points out, is 1300 m. That alone is already enough reason.

Aside from Tampakan, there is the other giant mining company in Zamboanga del Norte, the TVI Resources Development (Phils.) Inc., which is likewise sailing on rough seas following a moratorium on open pit mining by the province.

No Benefit

The giant crater that these mining companies plan to make of these provinces - mountains amid promises of development and employment, however, does not hold much truth when paired with data from government agencies as shown by Margarita “Maita” F. Gomez, the coordinator of Bantay-Kita Action for Economic Reforms.

In Zamboanga Penisula, she said, agriculture accounts for 50.8 percent of the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) between 2000 to 2009, 34 percent for services, 15 percent for industries, and a measly 1.06 percent for the disaggregated data of mining and quarrying.

“TVI could disappear and not hurt you,” she said.

In Region 10, where over 60 percent is classified as forestland, agriculture and forest products account for 30 percent of GRDP, industries account for 31 percent and services account for 39 percent, while mining and quarrying account for just a mere 0.66 percent.

The growth contributed by mining and quarrying to any Mindanao region is highest only in Caraga, but this does not even account for substantial growth at a mere 6.38 percent of the total GRDP for the nine year period.
“The average contribution of mining to Philippine economy from 2000-2009, and that is mining and quarrying put together, was ).91 percent. The highest was in 2007 at 1.4 percent,” she said.

“Why the Chamber of Mines said our economy will collapse if we irritate them, I don’t know,” she added, pointing out that the figures she based her study on were all derived from government agencies.

Worse, the combined figures for employment by mining and quarrying for the 2000-2009 period does not even reach 1 percent.
“Mining and quarrying together employ less than one-half of a percent or 0.376 percent, but on top of this, the large scale mining cannot claim to employ this number,” Gomez said. She described large-scale mining as capital intensive but employs the least number of people.

No Jobs

A similar point was raised by a policy paper released by the Ateneo de Manila University School of Governance (ASOG) last November 25, 2011, a copy of which was sent to Sun.Star in December 2011.

In the December 2, 2011 headline article entitled “Mining can’t deliver jobs: study”, the policy paper by ASOG read, "Recent data has shown that it has been 0.5 percent since 2008 until 2010. So far, for the first half of 2011, contribution has been reported as 0.6 percent (in contrast to agriculture at 33 percent in 2011)."
This is the same in worldwide figures, with mining notably being a low employment generator.

For the $5.9-billion investment to the Tampakan project, only a total of 2,000 permanent jobs can be generated.

Pay is also poor, except for the ones who occupy high positions, who are mostly not locals.

ASOG cited economist and former National Economic Development Authority Director General Cielito Habito's paper for the Asian Development Bank in 2010 entitled, "An Agenda for High and Inclusive Growth in the Philippines", where it shows that labor compensation in the mining sector accounts only for 13.3 percent as compared to the average 20.7 percent in all other sectors.

There are a lot more that can be said against mining, which only means there is reason to go slow and review whatever it is we are saying yes to.

Indeed, the Chamber of Mines appear to be aggressive in putting out paid advertisements in national dailies, but in the end, it is the residents who will have to live with the mines once these will abandoned.

For Tampakan alone, the SMI covers 10,000 hectares and has admitted that it will have to clear out 3,935 hectares of forest and arable lands for a mining operation expected to last between 17 to 20 years. After barely one generation, the mining company will be gone leaving behind the giant pit it has made out of a mountain will be left behind infertile, inutile, dug out to the core where even grass cannot grow.

The galleons, indeed, may have long gone, but the inequitable trade remains? our gold for their guns, as they arm locals to guard their claims; our gold for some bottles of liquor, videoke machines, and motorcycles to the easily pleased indigenous folks; leaving nothing but empty promises and just as empty land.