[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’‘MINING NOT EVIL’ | MGB-6 hits mining ‘fallacies’’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Monday, June 26, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
ILOILO City – Mining is totally evil? That’s a misconception, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Region 6.
Byproducts of mining are needed in people’s daily lives, said Engr. Rene Dela Cruz, chief of MGB-6’s Mine Environment, Safety and Social Development Division.
Minerals from the earth are central to the modern way of life, he stressed at a recent stakeholders’ forum MGB-6 organized to clarify misconceptions on the mining industry.
The former Environment secretary, Gina Lopez, was an anti-mining advocate and courted the mining industry’s ire. She stopped the operations of several mining companies.
“Virtually all infrastructures and products that we use today needed raw materials from mining,” said Dela Cruz at the June 22 forum held at the Iloilo Grand Hotel.
Environment undersecretary Luis Jacinto directed MGB regional offices to counter the misconceptions, said Regional Director Leo Van Juguan.
MGB was able to issue permits to 13 mining companies in Western Visayas and Negros Island Region, he revealed.
Dela Cruz disputed claims that the mining industry does not help alleviate poverty. The industry provides employment and increases mining communities’ income through local and national taxes, he stressed.
Dela Cruz denied, too, that mining permanently damages the environment. He said the disturbance of land is not permanent.
“Mined-out areas can be rehabilitated into green and vegetated landscapes. Inactive and abandoned mines sites are planted with trees as mandated by Executive Order No. 26 known as National Greening Program,” said Dela Cruz.
Mining is just a temporary use of land and not all of the areas that the government allows for exploration are mined, he further clarified.
“Only 5,000 hectares are retained after exploration. Only 20 percent or 1,000 hectares may be directly affected by mining operations under Area Relinquishment, the progressive reduction of contract area. The mining contractor returns the area that has low mineral potentials,” Dela Cruz explained.
Other misconceptions Dela Cruz countered were the following:
* agriculture and mining cannot coexist – “The raw materials for all the products we use either come from agriculture or from mining,” said Dela Cruz.
* there is only irresponsible mining – Mining companies are ordered to adhere strictly to government regulations, said Dela Cruz, and they have ISO Certification to ensure compliance to global standards.
* mining’s contribution to the gross domestic product is small – Dela Cruz said mining’s gross value-added is P85 billion a year (on average from 2010 to 2016), and the sector’s gross value production is P166 billion a year (on average from 2010 to 2015)
* mining industry’s tax payments are too small and almost insignificant – Dela Cruz said that in 2015, mining company Nickel Asia alone paid taxes and fees (both to the national government and local government units concerned) reaching P3.7 billion.
* employment from mining is small at only around 10,000 workers – Citing Department of Labor and Employment data, Dela Cruz said jobs generated by the mining industry reached about 240,000, excluding those indirectly created in communities that benefit from social development and management programs of mining companies.
Roughly 960,000 people depend on the mining industry for their source of living, he claimed./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
