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The Dear Price of Promised Progress from the Mining Industry in the Philippines

Posted on Monday, 19 February 2018


The Dear Price of Promised Progress
From the Mining Industry In the Philippines
By Apolinario Villalobos

Once mined, a particular parcel of land can never recover lost yields – minerals in various forms that sustain life and top soil that enforce the earth’s crust. And, that is what is happening to the archipelagic Philippines which is being eaten up by the industry. Today, the tumultuous political atmosphere of the country is further jittered by the decision of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to cancel the permit of many mining firms, a decision which is not to the delight of some sectors, especially, those that have been directly and financially affected due to their stakes. A big howl also comes from the purported human rights advocates who use loss of job as their tool for protest, as if only mining offers the opportunity to earn and nothing else.

The root cause of the swarming of mining ventures in the country, mostly foreign-based, is the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 which was authored by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she was yet, a senator. It allowed foreigners to have a 100% ownership of land areas that they have claimed for mining. The blanket authority eventually paved the way towards the virgin mountains and forests of the country for any foreigner who was willing to invest in mining ventures. Rainforests were cleared, hills and agricultural lands were excavated, and chemicals polluted rivers, streams that flowed to the estuaries and coastal waters…and farmers lost their farms. At the rate abuse of the country’s natural resources are going, this law needs to be revoked.

During the presidential incumbency of Benigno Aquino III, the issuance of mining permits multiplied which enriched even local government officials. Although, some of the farmers were employed by the mining firms, their pay was meager compared to the former yields of their farm. The mushrooming of temporary mining communities resulted to the proliferation of crimes and prostitutions that literally eroded the values of the once sedate villagers and scandalized their once laid back way of life. The polluted air and water brought about diseases that emaciated the once healthy locals and the prices of basic commodities, especially, food, soared. Practically, the industry that has been hoped to bring progress, instead, devastated communities and their inhabitants.

Although, the financial effect to the country’s economy by the move to stop the mining operation can be recovered from other ventures, the recovery from its effects to the people and community could definitely be felt for a long time, as it involves cleansing of the polluted soil, the water beneath it and what flows on the surface. The government would definitely be helpless, in fact, more helpless, as shown by its inutile effort in tackling other problems that pester the country. This unfortunate fact leaves Mother Nature to do some kind of a self-healing. The eroded moral values and culture of the people may take generations to recoup. On the other hand, those who have been physically suffering and wasting due to the onset of diseases could just gasp for short breaths of the polluted air while holding on to their dear life!

At the outset, even without mentioning figures to show its devastation, the effects of the ABUSED OPPORTUNITY in mining the natural resources of the Philippines are very obvious. However, if the government decides to put a stop to it to give Mother Nature some respite, it must have READY FALLBACK PROGRAMS, NOT JUST PLANS for the displaced miners, considering that this problem has been plaguing the country for decades. Farming and fishing in the same devastated areas is out of the question because of the polluted land, rivers and coastal waters.

The most realistic move is to relocate the affected people to ANY RURAL AREA of their own choice, an option which means reasonable and realistic compensation. However, this problem could be aggravated if the concerned mining firms would also ask for compensation due to the cessation of their highly-financed operation….a suggestion is to use the confiscated money from drug operations.

The mining industry in the Philippines is proof that progress has a dear price. It glaringly shows that any venture that has got to do with Nature’s exploitation can be devastating…even with promises of proper management, as there is an innate tendency of man to deviate from the proper course due to greed!





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On the Exploitation of the Weak

Posted on Tuesday, 21 February 2017

On the Exploitation of the Weak
 By Apolinario Villalobos

Natural resources are gifts and blessings from the Creator of the universe and as such should be properly and justly exploited as a show of respect to the Giver. However, the problem in this world is that, practically, the strong overruns the weak in their greedy effort to control anything that got to do with survival. Looking back, history is a mute witness to this desire of powerful nations such as Portugal, Spain, Holland, England, and later, America, Russia, Germany, China, and Japan. Earlier in the history of nations, Portugal and Spain, practically divided the world into two hemispheres for appropriation between the two of them. Later, war was used as an instrument for the appropriation of the weak nations among the strong ones.

Much later, with the blazed marine trails that lead to practically all continents, strong nations overran all of them, with America and her “Manifest Destiny” ideals, leading the pack. Her obsessive drive was masked with a supposedly noble intention to save the “barbarian” and “pagan” inhabitants of forcefully occupied lands from their misery of ignorance, although, beneath it, was the desire to bleed the lands of their natural resources, and the Philippines was among those that suffered this harrowing fate. It should be noted that long before the Spaniards colonized the Philippines, the early inhabitants had a healthy commercial intercourse with other nations, aside from having their own spiritual leaning which was Mohammedan or Islamic. The Americans did not “convert” the Filipinos into Christianity, as when they came, the Spanish colonizers already did it….all they did was turn the face of the Catholic inhabitants towards Protestantism.

If our forefathers fought for the preservation of our nation’s patrimonial rights, today, the Philippine government practically offers it to the highest bidders- whoever they are, if foreigner, the better because of their dollar. The Philippine Constitution meanwhile haplessly and practically turned into a doormat, as provisions after provisions are changed to fit the desires of foreign investors. The apex of irresponsibility was the passing of a law authored by Gloria Arroyo when she was yet a senator, allowing foreigners to own the 100% rights over claimed land intended for mining…this is the root cause of the scandalous mining incidents in the country that to date, have even claimed lives.

The Philippine Mining Law passed in 1995 is a glaring example of how lawmakers can be so naïve to the far-reaching effects of nature-related ventures in the country. They do not seem to understand what displacement, pollution, cultural debacle, immorality, and corruption mean. All that they perceive are the dollar and peso, as well as, the glitter of gold…gains that find their way to the pocket of the corrupt government officials instead of the inhabitants of the affected lands. From a national point of view, practically, no significant benefit has ever been “felt”, “observed”, or “enjoyed”, by the citizens, in case the gains have reached the national coffer. Tangible projects on which these gains are spent, are hideously pockmarked with commissions at different levels of transaction….so, what benefit are the greedy talking about?

Soil erosion and flood are the effect of the careless exploitation of natural resources while on the part of the inhabitants, forced displacements that lead to their migration to slums of urban areas where they eventually succumb to the pummeling of poverty, are the dismal disheartening results, made more grievous by the wearing down of their cultural values. Many girls and boys turn to prostitution to help eke out a living for their starving families. Families live on sidewalks and “mobile homes” – the pushcart which is the most practical way to carry around collected junks from garbage dumps. Fathers who turned “barkers” in jeepney terminals are lured into easy money by big time drug pushers, dangled temptation that they bit, for which they paid with their life.

Catholic bishops and human rights advocates kuno wonder how and why the above-mentioned Filipinos became bad, to the extent of being killed due to their involvement in drug trafficking. These hypocrites are obviously short-sighted because what they see are just the slums where the unfortunate victims live. They fail or refuse to look beyond the slums, so that they will be able to perceive where they came from….and, what made them endure the hellish life in the city!



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The Grim Prospect of Exploiting Ligwasan Marsh and Tampakan

Posted on Monday, 20 February 2017

The Grim Prospect of Exploiting
Ligwasan Marsh and Tampakan
By Apolinario Villalobos

Ligwasan Marsh is touted to be very rich in mineral deposits and natural gas, even deuterium. But then, since time immemorial, the marshland has been home to indigenous freshwater fishes of Mindanao…their breeding area, to put it straight. It also offers relief to flooded areas in central Mindanao by serving as some sort of catch basin. If it gets exploited and got drained of its resources, the simplistic conclusion would be: even the lowly tilapia and mudfish would be procured in Bulacan and Batangas in Luzon! How can fish and fresh water plants survive the pollution from chemicals and eventual disturbance from drilling equipments?

If ever fish farms would be establish by entrepreneurs for the breeding to sustain the supply of indigenous freshwater fish for local consumption, the choking effect to the consumers will be the same as prices would be dictated not only by big fish farmers but also, by the middlemen. Eventually, high-tech foreign fish farmers would trek into the Promised Land and form corporate conglomerate with local partners…a sure ball for the creation of “cartel” So, we go back again to the issues of “unequal opportunity”, unfair labor practices of foreign employers, etc. At the end, who reaps the “blessings”?....of course, foreign investors who send back their earnings to their country. Meanwhile, polluted water flows to rivers and streams down to the coastal waters of Mindanao...gain for our long-ranged devastation.

On the Tampakan Open-pit mining project, aside from the pollution of water resources and soil, farmers shall be displaced from their farms. A B’laan family has been massacred for fighting the aggression on their ancestral domain. Definitely, not only will the displaced tribal families suffer from the consequences that will result to pollution but also those who live on the plains and who depend on the river system for the irrigation of their farms and water supply for their livestock and homes.


The crucial choice now is between the direct benefits that financiers shall reap and the uncertain benefits for the communities due to corrupt practices. Another choice is between the 15-20 years short-term employment benefits and the perpetual damage to the land that shall affect generations to come.

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The Dear Price of Promised Progress from the Mining Industry

Posted on Saturday, 18 February 2017

The Dear Price of Promised Progress
From the Mining Industry
In the Philippines
By Apolinario Villalobos

Once mined, a particular parcel of land can never recover lost yields – minerals in various forms that sustain life and top soil that enforce the earth’s crust. And, that is what is happening to the archipelagic Philippines which is being eaten up by the industry. Today, the tumultuous political atmosphere of the country is further jittered by the decision of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to cancel the permit of many mining firms, a decision which is not to the delight of some sectors, especially, those that have been directly and financially affected due to their stakes. A big howl also comes from the purported human rights advocates who use loss of job as their tool for protest, as if only mining offers the opportunity to earn and nothing else.

The root cause of the swarming of mining ventures in the country, mostly foreign-based, is the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 which was authored by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she was yet, a senator. It allowed foreigners to have a 100% ownership of land areas that they have claimed for mining. The blanket authority eventually paved the way towards the virgin mountains and forests of the country for any foreigner who was willing to invest in mining ventures. Rainforests were cleared, hills and agricultural lands were excavated, and chemicals polluted rivers, streams that flowed to the estuaries and coastal waters…and farmers lost their farms. At the rate abuse of the country’s natural resources are going, this law needs to be revoked.

During the presidential incumbency of Benigno Aquino III, the issuance of mining permits multiplied which enriched even local government officials. Although, some of the farmers were employed by the mining firms, their pay was meager compared to the former yields of their farm. The mushrooming of temporary mining communities resulted to the proliferation of crimes and prostitutions that literally eroded the values of the once sedate villagers and scandalized their once laid back way of life. The polluted air and water brought about diseases that emaciated the once healthy locals and the prices of basic commodities, especially, food, soared. Practically, the industry that has been hoped to bring progress, instead, devastated communities and their inhabitants.

Although, the financial effect to the country’s economy by the move to stop the mining operation can be recovered from other ventures, the recovery from its effects to the people and community could definitely be felt for a long time, as it involves cleansing of the polluted soil, the water beneath it and what flows on the surface. The government would definitely be helpless, in fact, more helpless, as shown by its inutile effort in tackling other problems that pester the country. This unfortunate fact leaves Mother Nature to do some kind of a self-healing. The eroded moral values and culture of the people may take generations to recoup. On the other hand, those who have been physically suffering and wasting due to the onset of diseases could just gasp for short breaths of the polluted air while holding on to their dear life!

At the outset, even without mentioning figures to show its devastation, the effects of the ABUSED OPPORTUNITY in mining the natural resources of the Philippines are very obvious. However, if the government decides to put a stop to it to give Mother Nature some respite, it must have READY FALLBACK PROGRAMS, NOT JUST PLANS for the displaced miners, considering that this problem has been plaguing the country for decades. Farming and fishing in the same devastated areas is out of the question because of the polluted land, rivers and coastal waters.

The most realistic move is to relocate the affected people to ANY RURAL AREA of their own choice, an option which means reasonable and realistic compensation. However, this problem could be aggravated if the concerned mining firms would also ask for compensation due to the cessation of their highly-financed operation….a suggestion is to use the confiscated money from drug operations.

The mining industry in the Philippines is proof that progress has a dear price. It glaringly shows that any venture that has got to do with Nature’s exploitation can be devastating…even with promises of proper management, as there is an innate tendency of man to deviate from the proper course due to greed!



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Mineral Resources of the Philippines

Posted on Friday, 9 October 2015

Mineral Resources of the Philippines
by Apolinario Villalobos

During the pre-colonial days of the Philippines, only gold was mined by the natives. The precious metal was among the reasons why the archipelago was coveted by colonizers. Different mineral deposits are practically distributed among the islands and islets that compose the archipelago.

Gold can be found in the Mountain Province, Ilocos Norte, Abra, Camarines  Norte, Camarines Sur, and Mindanao; chromite in Zambales, Batangas, Mindoro, Masbate, Palawan, Surigao, Agusan, Davao, Misamis Oriental, Zamboanga del Sur, and Mountain Province; copper in Ilocos Norte, Tarlac, Zambales, Batangas, Catanduanes, Antique, Capiz, Negros Occidental, Cebu and Tawi-tawi; iron in Ilocos Norte, Mountain Province, Cagayan, Bulacan, Bataan, Camarines Norte, Marinduque, Surigao,Davao and Palawan; natural asphalt in Leyte. Nonoc island is known for its nickel.

Manganese can be found in  Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Coron Island in the Calamian group, Siquijor, Bohol, Bukidnon, and Leyte; coal in Polilio island, Laguna, Quezon, Mindoro, Capiz, Negros, Cebu, Samar, Davao, Cotabato, and Zamboanga del Sur; oil in Cebu, Cotabato, and Quezon; gypsum in Batangas; sulfur in  Camiguin Island; pyrite in Camarines Sur, Palawan and Surigao; soda feldspar in Cebu, Biiran Island, and Sarangani; phosphate in Pangasinan, Camarines Sur, Albay, Catanduanes, Palawan, Iloilo, Samar and Bohol; quartz sand in Ilocos Norte; magnesite in Davao; granulite and quicksilver in Palawan. Today, the coastline of Ilocos Norte is gashed with non-stop mining of quartz sand by shiploads.

Romblon is known for its world-class marble which can also be mined in the Mountain Province, Guimaras Island, and Bulacan; guano deposit abounds in Pangasinan, Zambales, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Iloilo and Palawan; silica sand can be found in Lubang Island near Palawan, Dinagat island near Surigao, and in Palawan;  limestone abounds in Cagayan, Isabela, Bulacan, Quezon, Samar, Panay island, Cotabato provinces, Cebu, and Palawan.

It is no wonder that “modern colonizers” salivate at the prospect of economically enslaving the Philippines, on account of her abundant mineral deposits which could be considered as “collaterals” for never-ending renewal of debts. This is also the reason why, the Americans immediately demanded the inclusion of the “Parity Rights” in the Philippine Constitution before total self-governance was finally granted.

The West Philippine Sea being disputed with China and other neighboring SEAsian countries, and the Ligwasan Marsh in Cotabato are reputed to be rich in natural gas and deuterium. With the predicted exhaustion of oil deposit in the Middle East, industrialized countries are looking for alternative sources of fuel, and the Philippines is among them.


How can the Filipino, then, not fight for his rights, and protect what are his, such as those that have been mentioned?