WHO is the monster? The private companies that destroy mountains, the negligent mining regulators or the corrupt who allow the illegal activities to continue in exchange for money?
When President Rodrigo Duterte said that mining has “created a monster” that caused environmental degradation and human misery, he was referring to mining firms’ operations that triggered landslides in Itogon, Benguet, at the height of Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut), where more than 50 persons died.
This “monster” took on another face when landslides struck Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Tina-an in the City of Naga, Cebu, last Thursday. Residents blamed the Apo Land Quarry Corp. and Naga City Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong said regulators under the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) were negligent.
Chiong said, as far back as three weeks ago, residents were afraid the cracks would endanger their lives. They complained to her, and she raised the matter to the MGB. But the agency gave the all-clear and said the cracks did not pose imminent danger.
This “monster” that Duterte described has many faces – of irresponsible companies with no regard for the environment and safety of others, of mining regulators who are willing to change an assessment of a quarry area for one reason or another, of corruption that mark the process from beginning to end.
To attack this multi-faceted creature is to have several approaches to address its many facets.
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Duterte went to visit landslide victims in the City of Naga last Friday, but his speech was more on lambasting his political critics than addressing the evacuees’ plight. He gave a few lines of condolences and assurances but most of his talk was on his critics. He said some jokes, too, to suffering, grieving residents.
Duterte spoke of the dangers of typhoons and told evacuees to protect themselves when there’s a storm. After a lengthy tirade on the weather, one female evacuee went up to Duterte and said this was not about a typhoon. Typhoon Ompong spared Cebu when it passed the country last week. The brave woman said they’ve had typhoons but these did not cause landslides. What happened to them was because of quarry operations of the Apo company. She asked the President to close down the firm.
What did Duterte do and say? He held her hand and noticed her manicured nails. You were probably in the beauty parlor when the landslide happened, Duterte said, holding on to her hand. Then, Duterte asked, “Kinsa NPA diri? Walay NPA diri? Bantay mo ha. Yawa. Walay nag suporta sa NPA? Ayaw mo ana.” (He asked if there were members of the New People’s Army, armed unit of the Communist Party of the Philippines, among the evacuees.) He then went on to talk about party founder Jose Maria Sison and failed attempts to negotiate peace.
Was Duterte even listening? What landslide survivors need is for government to listen.