PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/16-22/2012
The global and national economy is actually all about the "mining" industry; that is, what is mine and what is theirs. The question at the center of it all is, "Whose 'mine' are we talking about?"
The world's 1% believes it to be "all mine" while it thinks that the 99% poor saps like you and me (yes, including the middle class, with the broad masses at the bottom) don't have any right at all to any of it. Oh, maybe, the rest of the 99% can have a little in taxes the 1% pays, like the 2% mining tax the Philippine law stipulates--which is now supposed to be raised, albeit still to a measly 7%.
In some countries like China, the 99% own all the mineral wealth of their lands--managed, of course, through and by the state. That way, it is factored in as part of their national economic development plan. Take China's wealth of "rare earth minerals." These are being used to dominate the solar energy and electric transport industries of the world for that country's benefit.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, where trillions worth of gold have already been extracted in centuries, the country has remained among the poorest.
What is yours and mine
The Executive Order (EO) issued by BS Aquino III recently has kept open almost 800 mining concessions and existing operations in place, while calling for a moratorium on new ones. It increases the taxation and other fees on mining operations but leaves the triple-lion's share or 90% to the corporate miners who are actually an even smaller percentage (maybe 0.01%) of the global population. These extremely lucky companies include Alcoa, Anglo American Rio Rinto, Barrick Gold, and Xstrata which is behind the Tampakan mining operation that is the subject of the "Danger in Perpetuity" episode some months back of my cable TV show on the world's most dangerous mining projects.
The domestic mining companies, in like manner, represent an extremely small percentage of the population, like the Zamora brothers, who have used that wealth to control other resources such as government and its finances, as highlighted by an early 2011 OpinYon issue on the brothers' control of the BS Aquino III regime and their pressures to monopolize the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) that led to a DBP executive's suicide.
The question of "theirs" or "ours" is the fundamental issue every Filipino concerned with the mining issue should focus on. If we, as I do, believe that the mineral wealth of this country is a God- and nature-given national patrimony and bounty that all Filipinos present and future can and should share in, then we should take the position that all mining activities must totally be of, by, and for the nation.
Private mining interests can participate as contractors on the basis of cost, or through other variations of cooperatives with local residents and small miners, or in partnerships and joint ventures if necessary. But as private corporate mining giants have had a record of exploiting and extracting with nominal safeguards that eventually cause disastrous environmental damage years or decades later, leaving the unimaginable economic and environmental costs for the local populations to suffer, the state must have all the credit and capital it needs to open and exploit the mines in behalf of the people, and afford the safeguards for present and future generations.
Let me end this segment by paraphrasing Woody Guthrie's populist "This Land Is Your Land" in answer to the imperialist anthem "God Bless America:" "These mines are your mines, these mines are our mines, these mines are not 'their' mines, from Luzon to the Mindanao islands, from the Benguet to the Tampakan mines, these mines were made for you and me…"
While the oligarchs are wont to say, "What is yours is mine," we say, "These are yours and mine."
Danger in Perpetuity
The world's 1% believes it to be "all mine" while it thinks that the 99% poor saps like you and me (yes, including the middle class, with the broad masses at the bottom) don't have any right at all to any of it. Oh, maybe, the rest of the 99% can have a little in taxes the 1% pays, like the 2% mining tax the Philippine law stipulates--which is now supposed to be raised, albeit still to a measly 7%.
In some countries like China, the 99% own all the mineral wealth of their lands--managed, of course, through and by the state. That way, it is factored in as part of their national economic development plan. Take China's wealth of "rare earth minerals." These are being used to dominate the solar energy and electric transport industries of the world for that country's benefit.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, where trillions worth of gold have already been extracted in centuries, the country has remained among the poorest.
What is yours and mine
The Executive Order (EO) issued by BS Aquino III recently has kept open almost 800 mining concessions and existing operations in place, while calling for a moratorium on new ones. It increases the taxation and other fees on mining operations but leaves the triple-lion's share or 90% to the corporate miners who are actually an even smaller percentage (maybe 0.01%) of the global population. These extremely lucky companies include Alcoa, Anglo American Rio Rinto, Barrick Gold, and Xstrata which is behind the Tampakan mining operation that is the subject of the "Danger in Perpetuity" episode some months back of my cable TV show on the world's most dangerous mining projects.
The domestic mining companies, in like manner, represent an extremely small percentage of the population, like the Zamora brothers, who have used that wealth to control other resources such as government and its finances, as highlighted by an early 2011 OpinYon issue on the brothers' control of the BS Aquino III regime and their pressures to monopolize the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) that led to a DBP executive's suicide.
The question of "theirs" or "ours" is the fundamental issue every Filipino concerned with the mining issue should focus on. If we, as I do, believe that the mineral wealth of this country is a God- and nature-given national patrimony and bounty that all Filipinos present and future can and should share in, then we should take the position that all mining activities must totally be of, by, and for the nation.
Private mining interests can participate as contractors on the basis of cost, or through other variations of cooperatives with local residents and small miners, or in partnerships and joint ventures if necessary. But as private corporate mining giants have had a record of exploiting and extracting with nominal safeguards that eventually cause disastrous environmental damage years or decades later, leaving the unimaginable economic and environmental costs for the local populations to suffer, the state must have all the credit and capital it needs to open and exploit the mines in behalf of the people, and afford the safeguards for present and future generations.
Let me end this segment by paraphrasing Woody Guthrie's populist "This Land Is Your Land" in answer to the imperialist anthem "God Bless America:" "These mines are your mines, these mines are our mines, these mines are not 'their' mines, from Luzon to the Mindanao islands, from the Benguet to the Tampakan mines, these mines were made for you and me…"
While the oligarchs are wont to say, "What is yours is mine," we say, "These are yours and mine."
Danger in Perpetuity
One of the most controversial mining issues in the country today is the Tampakan Copper Gold Project operated by Sagittarius Mines Inc. (with Xstrata) in the tri-boundaries of South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, and Sarangani.
According to Clive Montgomery, conservation and development consultant and specialist on impact of extractive industries, the Tampakan project is one of the most dangerous mining projects in the world. It has been estimated to produce 2.7 billion tons of mine wastes which will be placed atop the mountain sitting above its open pit mine site. The mine wastes will be stacked up to 300 meters high and cover 500 hectares; and considering that the project is located just 10 kilometers away from Mount Matutum, an active volcano, seismic activities within the mining area can cause the gargantuan mine wastes to avalanche down to the populated areas and water sources. An example of this is the March 24, 1996 disaster in Marinduque where the collapse of mine tailings containment resulted in an avalanche of over 1.6 million cubic meters of tailings.
The Marinduque mine tailings poisoned 27 kilometers of river and coastal areas, and an inestimable impact on the river and the people who depend on it for their living. The deluge of tailings displaced river water and flooded low-lying areas, destroying crops and vegetable gardens and clogging irrigation channels to rice fields. The release left the Boac River virtually dead. Such tragedies, however, happen not only in the Philippines.
On July 19, 1985, the tailings dams of the Val di Stava mines near Tesero, Northern Italy collapsed, bringing sand, slime, and water downhill at a velocity approaching 90 kilometers per hour, killing people and destroying trees, buildings, and everything in their path, until these reached the river Avisio. The mudslide alone killed 268 people and completely destroyed three hotels, 53 homes, and six industrial buildings, also demolishing eight bridges and seriously damaging nine other buildings. The thick layer of mud measuring between 20 and 40 centimeters covered an overall 435,000 square meters over 4.2 kilometers. (Click on "Stava Mine Failure" on YouTube.)
A study entitled, "Reported tailings dam failures: A review of the European incidents in the worldwide context," by a group of European experts, reporting on "a corpus of 147 cases of worldwide tailings dam disasters, from which 26 (are) located in Europe," shows that, in many of these cases, thousands have died and hundreds of thousands of hectares of land and rivers were poisoned.
Whenever the life of a mine site is over, the corporate mining interests simply pack up and leave, while promising their tailing ponds and mines will be safe forever.
It is thus better that we, the 99%, keep mining moderated, modest, and stretched out over decades of conscientious extraction rather than at the plundering rate of corporate profit-predators.
BS Aquino III's Mining EO allows the continuation of almost 800 corporate mining operations, hence the headline, "Tampakan investor upbeat after EO issuance."
Mining in all economic fields
According to Clive Montgomery, conservation and development consultant and specialist on impact of extractive industries, the Tampakan project is one of the most dangerous mining projects in the world. It has been estimated to produce 2.7 billion tons of mine wastes which will be placed atop the mountain sitting above its open pit mine site. The mine wastes will be stacked up to 300 meters high and cover 500 hectares; and considering that the project is located just 10 kilometers away from Mount Matutum, an active volcano, seismic activities within the mining area can cause the gargantuan mine wastes to avalanche down to the populated areas and water sources. An example of this is the March 24, 1996 disaster in Marinduque where the collapse of mine tailings containment resulted in an avalanche of over 1.6 million cubic meters of tailings.
The Marinduque mine tailings poisoned 27 kilometers of river and coastal areas, and an inestimable impact on the river and the people who depend on it for their living. The deluge of tailings displaced river water and flooded low-lying areas, destroying crops and vegetable gardens and clogging irrigation channels to rice fields. The release left the Boac River virtually dead. Such tragedies, however, happen not only in the Philippines.
On July 19, 1985, the tailings dams of the Val di Stava mines near Tesero, Northern Italy collapsed, bringing sand, slime, and water downhill at a velocity approaching 90 kilometers per hour, killing people and destroying trees, buildings, and everything in their path, until these reached the river Avisio. The mudslide alone killed 268 people and completely destroyed three hotels, 53 homes, and six industrial buildings, also demolishing eight bridges and seriously damaging nine other buildings. The thick layer of mud measuring between 20 and 40 centimeters covered an overall 435,000 square meters over 4.2 kilometers. (Click on "Stava Mine Failure" on YouTube.)
A study entitled, "Reported tailings dam failures: A review of the European incidents in the worldwide context," by a group of European experts, reporting on "a corpus of 147 cases of worldwide tailings dam disasters, from which 26 (are) located in Europe," shows that, in many of these cases, thousands have died and hundreds of thousands of hectares of land and rivers were poisoned.
Whenever the life of a mine site is over, the corporate mining interests simply pack up and leave, while promising their tailing ponds and mines will be safe forever.
It is thus better that we, the 99%, keep mining moderated, modest, and stretched out over decades of conscientious extraction rather than at the plundering rate of corporate profit-predators.
BS Aquino III's Mining EO allows the continuation of almost 800 corporate mining operations, hence the headline, "Tampakan investor upbeat after EO issuance."
Mining in all economic fields
However, the "mining" industry is not only for minerals and metals; it is in all human economic fields of endeavor. The oligarchs are into every "mining" field as they "mine" in the water and power industries in the Philippines. They are "mining" in money, too.
In the power sector, this 1% has claimed as "mine" (or "theirs") our nation's geothermal and hydroelectric resources, along with all the power plants that consumers and taxpayers had paid for since the establishment of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) decades ago.
One commodity that is supposedly "ours" (i.e. the people's) is our money or our peso. But, as the bankers claim it to be theirs, as do the IMF, World Bank, and ADB, we the people have had to borrow "their" money for every move we make and everything we desire to do.
Filipinos should thus begin to understand that money, like our land and seas, is a national patrimony and exists only because we the people use it. And with this understanding, we should demand that money (in our case, the peso) be also treated as a public utility for us to claim our power over it.
How do we claim public ownership over our money? By nationalizing the banking system and instituting public control over monetary policy and matters, by taking these away from the IMF et al., including the puppet Monetary Board.
If anyone shall protest that that will be prone to corruption, it will only prove that he or she does not understand what's really going on in the monetary system here and in the world.
Philippine media has dwelt almost nil on the scandal now raging in Britain, on the rate-fixing scandal of the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate), which determines the interest rates of bank-to-bank loans and which, as BizNews' Tony Lopez explains, affects our peso and all our financial transactions down to the payment of our small bills. This rate-fixing scheme led by Barclays (fined $450 million by regulators), involving the Bank of England, Citibank, JP Morgan, HSBC, and five others, came about as the bank lied to lower its rates and upgrade its credit standing.
Filipinos will never climb out of poverty because these "banksters" (banker-gangsters) are always going to extract surplus capital from the Philippines through fixing interest rates and buying local politicians like BS Aquino III who kowtow to them. So, whether it's in mining, utilities, or money, are we still going to sit idly by while they continue to get what's "ours" as "theirs"?
(Watch Destiny Cable GNN's HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., this week on "Consumer Updates: Water and Power Scams;" visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
In the power sector, this 1% has claimed as "mine" (or "theirs") our nation's geothermal and hydroelectric resources, along with all the power plants that consumers and taxpayers had paid for since the establishment of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) decades ago.
One commodity that is supposedly "ours" (i.e. the people's) is our money or our peso. But, as the bankers claim it to be theirs, as do the IMF, World Bank, and ADB, we the people have had to borrow "their" money for every move we make and everything we desire to do.
Filipinos should thus begin to understand that money, like our land and seas, is a national patrimony and exists only because we the people use it. And with this understanding, we should demand that money (in our case, the peso) be also treated as a public utility for us to claim our power over it.
How do we claim public ownership over our money? By nationalizing the banking system and instituting public control over monetary policy and matters, by taking these away from the IMF et al., including the puppet Monetary Board.
If anyone shall protest that that will be prone to corruption, it will only prove that he or she does not understand what's really going on in the monetary system here and in the world.
Philippine media has dwelt almost nil on the scandal now raging in Britain, on the rate-fixing scandal of the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate), which determines the interest rates of bank-to-bank loans and which, as BizNews' Tony Lopez explains, affects our peso and all our financial transactions down to the payment of our small bills. This rate-fixing scheme led by Barclays (fined $450 million by regulators), involving the Bank of England, Citibank, JP Morgan, HSBC, and five others, came about as the bank lied to lower its rates and upgrade its credit standing.
Filipinos will never climb out of poverty because these "banksters" (banker-gangsters) are always going to extract surplus capital from the Philippines through fixing interest rates and buying local politicians like BS Aquino III who kowtow to them. So, whether it's in mining, utilities, or money, are we still going to sit idly by while they continue to get what's "ours" as "theirs"?
(Watch Destiny Cable GNN's HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., this week on "Consumer Updates: Water and Power Scams;" visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
