First of three parts
The December 2004 Supreme Court decision declaring as constitutional the Mining Act of 1995 paves the way for the entry of foreign mining companies in the Philippines. The Cordillera region in Northern Luzon where 25 percent of gold and 39 percent of copper ore reserves of the whole country are found is one of the target areas.
By Windel Bolinget
BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera region – home of several ethnic minorities – has been the hub of mining production over the past century making the Philippines a major producer of gold and copper in the world market. Today, with the open mining policy of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration in full steam supposedly to bring the economy past its current fiscal crisis, the region is once again one of the major attractions for exploration by mining transnational corporations (TNCs).
Found in Northern Luzon, the Cordillera region has rich minerals, forest, and water resources. Rich soil and water sources have enabled its people to sustain agriculture on mountainside rice terraces, which sustained life for several generations in the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Ifugao. Apayao, Kalinga, and Mt. Province.
Cordillera hosts about 25 percent of gold ore and 39 percent of copper ore of the total confirmed mineral reserves in the Philippines. In 2004, the Cordillera produced the bulk of the country’s total gold production through the Victoria Gold Project and Teresa Gold Project of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (Lepanto); the Contract Mining Project of Benguet Corporation (BC); and small-scale mining from various parts of the region.
Also known for the diverse cultures of indigenous peoples, the Cordillera region has been historically considered by the government and foreign capitalists as a resource base for extraction often at the expense of the ancestral lands and resources of the region. State laws and policies have been crafted and imposed under the framework of the Regalian Doctrine and driven today by globalization.
The liberalization of the mining industry came about during the Ramos presidency with the 1995 Mining Act. Opposed by upland communities as well as by environmental groups and other sectors throughout the country, the controversial mining act came under scrutiny by the Supreme Court (SC). The SC in December 2004 reversed its first ruling of January in the same year and declared the act constitutional.
The high tribunal’s final ruling ended the biggest legal obstacle to the full-scale operations of TNCs engaged in mining.
Mining policy
The Act paves the way for the liberalization of the local mining industry and the takeover of global mining giants. Bent on executing this policy thrust, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued as early as January 2004 Executive Order 270 – the National Policy Agenda to Revitalize the Philippine Mining Industry.
Based on the EO 270, the Minerals Action Plan (MAP) was formulated setting the steps and targets to revitalize the Philippine mining industry. It ensures the unhampered entry of foreign mining companies through government agencies. Legal requirements on environmental protection and processes are relaxed and powers of local government units are clipped to favor mining investment.
Meantime, the leading organization of indigenous communities opposed to the mining policy – Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) – says that the revitalization of the Philippine mining industry will lead to further control and intensified plunder of the country’s wealth by global mining giants for their profit and greed. To indigenous peoples, the CPA said, it is another scheme added to the series of state laws and policies perpetrating national oppression and the systematic violation of their collective rights. (Bulatlat.com)
