WE WILL NOW give a background of how rich and golden are the opportunities in the Philippines.
The Americans exploited our vast natural resources, which the Spaniards did not, or did little, if at all. Today, we have to protect whatever is left of our national patrimony and be very conscious of how it is extracted and commercialized.
We have to know who the foremost beneficiaries are. We must be sure that they are the indigenous people and cultural communities whose territory mining and logging companies have encroached on, or adjacent to.
There is a tale about a man covered with gold dust, most probably a King or a Chieftain. His legend lives on for as long as there are people with deep fascination for gold and immeasurable treasures.
The Spaniards heard about the story of El Dorado. Later on, the lake mentioned was found but the city was never found. Sir Walter Raleigh believed and searched for El Dorado but never found it, while Edgar Allan Poe wrote a poem about it. People did not have to look far for it because as the Americans already claimed, they had found El Dorado in the Philippines, their new possession. This is attested to by the book of Murray Halstead, written and published in 1898.
While Admiral George Dewey was lounging and admiring the sunset over Manila Bay in the Paradise he “conquered,” he was probably saying to himself that “all this will be ours soon!” The geologist that the expedition brought along went out hurriedly to make an inventory of the wealth possessed by the Filipinos. The geologist came up with the report that he found in various parts of the islands, deposits of coal, petroleum, iron, lead, sulfur, copper, and gold, but little or nothing has been done by the Spaniards to develop them.
Gold was reported in Luzon, coal and petroleum in Cebu, and Iloilo, and sulfur in Leyte. According to Halstead, the coal in Cebu was of good quality. In fact, Halstead wrote on his title page that “The Philippines was the El Dorado of the Orient.” The possible treasure trove was so great, that after the war, the Americans turned to the Philippines to provide Japan the raw materials for the rehabilitation of its former enemy. The Americans were also looking for a more strategic foothold in the Orient so they needed to build up Japan but since the “Land of the Rising Sun” had no raw materials, the Americans sourced the raw materials from the Philippines, its steadfast ally in the two Wars, one against Spain and one against Japan.
Are things better for the indigenous people after several centuries have passed? How has the modern world greeted them and how do they greet the postmodern world of today?
Many reports attest to the fact that the indigenous people are not benefitting from the mining and logging around them. The glitter of gold and the embrace of the forest have eluded them even with the protection in the Constitution and RA8371.
Mi casa es tu casa that means “My home is your home” is applicable in this instance to the indigenous people even if they live so far away from us. We can see the results in climate change, loss of flora and fauna, the effects on marine life and other such natural response of the environment. More snow caps are melting, causing more rise in sea levels, more erosion, more fires, new diseases, and there is the loss of ecological diversity. Toxic water spill from mining ponds and flow into rivers, and find their way to our ocean; Coral reefs are bleached and die. Marine life is slowly degrading and what happens when the fish is gone?
The displacement of the indigenous people through armed conflicts from paramilitary and military forces have forced the evacuation of indigenous people. Their evacuation means loss of homes, loss of schools, of education for their children, and loss of livelihood. All these affect their present and their future.
There are news of kidnappings and killings by paramilitary or by militarization even through the use of aerial bombings. Constant harassment and threats have become part of the menu of the day for indigenous people. If you have not kept abreast with the news about the violence, it is time to start. It is not the place of this study to cite cases but to merely present gathered thoughts of how our brothers and sisters live. This is our country. It is our people, especially those who have to bear the hazards of mining and logging who should benefit the most from the activities within their ancestral domain. Let us all remember we all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This should be the normal but it is always unreachable for the poor. (To be continued/PN)
