Time to start processing our own raw materials
IN the middle of the ongoing dispute over the closure of 23 mines and the cancellation of 75 mining permits by Secretary Gina Lopez of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands (CCPI), the oldest business organization in the country, has come up with a proposal that merits the closest government attention.
The controversy over the DENR actions arose from the mining companies’ complaints that they have been deprived of their rights without due process, that they were not given the opportunity to correct violations, if any, that they stand to lose considerable investments already made in the gold, copper, nickel, and other mines they are now working or developing in the country.
The national government has noted the millions of pesos it stands to lose in its share of the income from the ore exports, in taxes paid bv the companies to both the national and local governments, in the loss of employment by thousands of mine employees.
Against all these economic gains, Secretary Lopez is firm in her stand that the closed mines and cancelled permits were in watersheds all over the country, in violation of the law, and that they are destroying the environment and the health of communities.
The entire dispute is now being studied by the inter-agency Mining Industry Coordinating Council which will try to balance the clashing concerns. It is trying to see how the economic benefits of mining, including the employment of so many people, can be salvaged, while maintaining the integrity of Philippine watersheds.
The Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands has now raised a point that has not been considered all this time – that the country should start moving to a higher level of the mining industry. We should not just export raw ore from our earth; we should start processing this ore in plants in our own land .
We should be exporting iron, rather than iron ore; copper, nickel, and other metals produced from ore which we now simply ship out in bulk to other countries which do the processing. We would be employing many thousands more employees than the 1.2 million now extracting the raw ore from the bowels of our earth. This will be adding value to our product, increasing the income we now get from our mines.
The chamber pointed out that this will require amendment of the Mining Ac of 1985. Whatever it takes, it is time to take up the idea of processing our own raw materials. Just as so many foreign companies were drawn by opportunities of extracting the many rich ores from our land, many other companies will see the great opportunities in processing these same raw materials into even more valuable metal exports. It is to these companies that the Philippine government must start granting licenses, the CCPI said.