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| image from Google |
We are all aware of one of the
largest economic solution here in our state but these “economic solution” are diverge into two roads, one has a positive
impact an of course the other one is negative. I’m talking about mining.
We citizens in this state don’t
have enough background knowledge pertaining to this subject and by that “illiteracy” about mining makes our
perception to mining more narrow.
Last June 9,
2012, I hurriedly went home after finishing some office matters to watch Ted
Failon’s Failon Ngayon Special Report about mining and it is
indeed an enriching episode and I commend the staffs for such an informative
episode. Going back, this article was inspired by the show and most of the
information cited below came from the show. Let us think what mining can gave
us.
#Mining
Wikipedia define
mining as “the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials
from the earth, from ore body, lode, vein, reef which forms and package
economic interest of the miner”.
In order to
collect the minerals in a land, it is subject to remove the side waste material
which is not really the direct interest of the miner. Furthermore, it will
undergo to a mining process which is “the
total removal of ore and waste. Also includes the removal of soil in some cases
(Wikipedia)”.
When an
individual wants to engage on the mining industry, he must locate an 18 million
hectare land for him to start the business. With that vast land, a miner can
have minerals such as: limestone, gold, nickel, chromites, metals or metal
clay. Here in the Philippines ,
we have 68 companies who are engaged in mining. 33 of those are metallic mining
and the remaining 35 are non-metallic mining companies. With these companies,
only 2% is the excise tax that the local and national government can incur
which is divided into two sectors. In lieu to that, the employees of the mining
companies has a minimum wage of Php 250.00 a day
#Requirement2Operate
There are 3
requirements for a company to operate and 2 of that (1) is to have a management
plan and (2) to give prior consent for the community that belongs to the land
area that the mining company will operate. As cited in the Philippine Mining Act
of 1995, Chapter III Sec. 16 “No
Ancestral land shall be opened for mining operations without the prior consent
of the indigenous cultural community concern”. In lieu to that, the Tigil
Mina Group expressed their dismay by saying “Gulatan ang style”. The spokesperson of the group added that with
this type of strategy, the indigenous community can’t do a thing for the
surprise operation.
In the other
hand, we have 3 pillars to title a mining company a “Responsible Miners”. The first pillar, “it should have a positive
effect in the economy”. Second, It’s environmental aspect and concerns on the
land that the mining company is operating and lastly, it should have a “social
development towards the community” in the nearby or nearest community.
#Issues
Though it may
sound a little bit of relief in our economy, mining is also facing a lot of
issues and the two of those issues is the environmental
issues and health issues.
Environmental Issue
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| contaminated water (photo from Google) |
It is no
surprise that most of us know what are the negative impact that mining would
gave us. The popular issues pertaining to environmental issues are soil erosion
which is obviously flaunt in mining areas, forest logging, contamination of the
soil and ground water and even the contamination of the coral reefs. The ocean
is now affected by this because of the release of hazardous chemicals from
mining most especially those who operates near the river banks or ocean.
Health Issue
One of the most catastrophic
mining incidents in history of Philippine Mining was on March 1996 which was
marked as the “Mine Tailing Incident” wherein the victims of this incident were
exposed and contaminated by a hazardous chemical known as Arsenic and it led
the victims to a serious infection referred as Arsenical Keratosis. Health issues are one of the serious problems
that the state is facing. These affect the health of the local population which
is caused by the hazardous chemicals that the mining company releases.
**These
companies are bound to follow the rules and regulation to minimize the impact
of the human health but some of these laws implemented will not be enforced by
the local and national government due to the developing world.
Moreover, if a
mining company stops to operate it will leave the mining area total dump. Now,
more than 5 companies were closed due to bankruptcy and lack of requirements.
The mining area was left abandon and there are no chances to live in. The
government stated that the total amount for rehabilitation would sum up to Php
300,000,000.00 which includes the eradication of the chemicals that was left on
the area.
Come to think of
it, our country is now developing but is mining a good solution to our economic
problem?
Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining
Ted
Failon’s Failon Ngayon
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