Monster with many faces

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.