In April 2010, report from the island said that heavy equipment were brought to Lagsingan, a sitio of Poblacion, Rapu-Rapu. Initial information includes the construction of a road from Poblacion to Morocborocan. In response to a letter, the Department of Agriculture disclosed that the project is a farm-to-market earth road 1,800 meters long and budgeted with P5 million. Our fear is that a mere earth road will not last when the rains fall later this year. Where is justice for Rapu-Rapu? After giving an estimated P10 billion to the miners, all that the island gets in return is an earth road!
A reporter of a big TV network went to the island and told this author that there is no development in Rapu-Rapu.
So, where’s the development promised by advocates of mining? I am reminded of the article written by Peter Wallace. On October 27, 2007, Mr. Wallace published his opinions through an article titled “Where’s the pot of gold?”
Mr. Wallace wrote:
Mining has been touted as one of the sectors government will promote as a major contributor to the economy. . . Early this year, mining exports were to be 3 percent of the total exports or about $1-$2 billion. Just recently the Mines and Geosciences Bureau quoted $10 billion as a likely investment figure.
By now investment should be far higher, the big mining companies should be aggressively exploring, joint venturing, buying mines. But, except for a handful, they’re not.
A smart government would ask why, and act to change it. The secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources should be talking to the industry and asking why.
The first to feel sorry for such a dour situation should be the government. It seems an Australian is sorrier and does all the sour-graping. Why? Because foreigners like him have more to gain from the newly bared mining resources of the Philippines than Filipinos ourselves. Like a virgin being undressed before alien eyes, the mountains of our country make the mouth of Mr. Wallace water.
Since Mr. Wallace really thinks so low of us Filipinos I am inclined to return the volley. Australia began to be colonized by England as a place of exile for rapists, murderers, thieves and other species of low life. If he thinks $10 billion is not being availed of by us then he should be happy because such huge amount is still in his countrymen’s hands. One man’s expense is another’s income. The Filipino’s non-income is the foreigner’s savings. We do not feel sorry for that but Mr. Wallace does! Why? Because that $10 billion is a “bait” with which the likes of him would ensnare our people and squeeze out the bounty of our land. No fool would put in one dollar and get 90 cents in return. Mr. Wallace proposes to pour in $ 10 billion because he wants foreigners to receive 20, 30 billion dollars or more. In Rapu-Rapu, for example, Lafayette is reported to invest $40 million. A browsing of the company’s website and a research on metal prices plus some arithmetic would reveal that Lafayette would earn $1.549 billion. That’s earning $38 for every $1 invested! What do the people of Rapu-Rapu get in return? In Mr. Wallace’s word NADA! They got five major fishkills, 68% decline in fish catch, decline in copra production, landslides, black bug infestation brought in by Lafayette ships, total loss of drinking water supply in Barangay Pagcolbon, militarization, poverty, and migration.
Filipinos are not taking the bait and so Mr. Wallace calls our government unsmart and by extension, our people too.
If the current rush into mining concessions is not enough for Mr. Wallace that is his problem. We, Filipinos, do not need an alien like him to tell us what to do. For us, the frenzy over mining explorations is destroying our forests, mountains, rivers and seas. In return, so much destruction of livelihoods has happened. In Rapu-Rapu, for example, five fishkills have been documented. An average of 68% decline in fish catch was reported by Ibon Foundation in a study conducted in February 2007.
We have been dictated to by foreigners since 1565 when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived. We do not need another dictation disguised as unsolicited advice from an alien. That constitutes foreign interference. His advocated foreign investment in an industry originally exclusive to Filipinos is economic interference.
Mr. Wallace wrote:
There, of course, is one reason I can immediately cite: Continuity. You don’t change managers every few months if you wish to instill a sense of stability in a system. . . It’s crazy. It introduces a level of uncertainty that if you’re investing hundreds of millions of dollars, you will surely pause to think. Every manager (in this case Secretary) has his own philosophies, own set of priorities, own agenda. And a change can be quite substantial, particularly in a country where the leader herself has changed policy emphases fairly frequently.
If Mr. Wallace meets a problem he will not solve it. He will find someone or something to blame. In this instant case, he blames the government. If there is any wrong which our government has done it is not doing nothing. Rather, it is doing so much for foreign companies. One regional director even sounds like the spokesperson of Lafayette. Our government provides tax deductions and holidays to the countrymen of Mr. Wallace. I pay 23% of my annual income as tax. I work for 12 months, I give back two months income as tax. With 13th month pay, I have the equivalent of 11 months of earnings to use for my needs. Since there is a 12% EVAT approximately another month’s income is taken away as tax. That leaves me with only 10 months out of the equivalent of 13 months of work.
What tax is paid by mining companies? Under the PEZA privileges, they pay only 7% plus the measly real estate taxes. However, they are given by the Special Economic Zone Act, a tax-free period of six to eight years. Originally, Lafayette said its mine life was six years. Later the company adjusted it to eight years. Those estimates are not results of a technical study. They are results of a taxation study. Other corporations are taxed at the rate of 32% of their income.
Mr. Wallace wrote:
On top of that, the government has done a poor job at protecting the industry from attack. The incident at the Lafayette mine in Rapu Rapu was allowed to get completely out of hand. Oppositors, including Bishop Bastes, had a field day— and the government stood by. It even, quite unbelievably, encouraged it by appointing this bishop to head an investigation. He, of course, recommended closing the mine.
Well, he almost succeeded, and the government’s dilly-dallying over giving approval to re-open the mine almost broke the company. This was a minor incident. It should have been resolved within 3-6 months. Lafayette had made the corrections by then, but it was 12 costly months later before approval to re-open was given.
As to countering the rabid vilification by oppositors and giving a true picture of what happened, the government did nothing. Just stood by.
The Arroyo government has been overly protective of foreign interests while laying bare to alien rape the patrimony of its citizens. In the Rapu-Rapu case, Lafayette failed the “tutorial” run. The leaks and other failures are documented in the Technical Working Group Report. Instead of honoring his word, “You fail it, I close it!”, Mr. Angelo Reyes permitted the company to resume operations.
One nasty practice of opinion-makers is the use of exaggeration as in claiming that Bishop Bastes “had a field day – and the government stood by.” If I read the TWG Report on the “tutorial” run correctly and saw the ceremonies in Malacañang with clear eyes, the government was severely biased against the RRFFC and favored the minority report of Mr. Gregorio Tabuena. It was Mr. Tabuena who recommended a “test” run which was not in the recommendations of the commission. Of all the commission’s recommendations, none was heeded. If that was not protecting the foreign investor, then what is?
The government stood idly by. That’s true. It did nothing to protect Filipino interest. Yes, the recommendation was to close the mine. Just a minor correction: that recommendation did not come from Bishop Bastes. It came from the majority. The Tabuena recommendation for a test run was heeded by the government. In spite of so many concessions to Lafayette, Mr. Wallace still has the gall to whine about a government that “stood idly by”. He even has the chronology confused. The government did not stand idly by then appointed Bishop Bastes. Instead, the government appointed Bishop Bastes, ignored the recommendations of the Commission, heeded that of Mr. Tabuena, then showered Lafayette with so many favors. After all that, Mr. Wallace still feels so much inadequacy.
The “rabid vilification” was committed not by Lafayette oppositors but by Lafayette apologists and the company’s own Community Relations Department. Consider the following:
Atty. Bayani Agabin threatened to sue those spreading the “hoax that was the October 2007 fishkill”. Glaring evidences in the form of reports and photographs abounded but to Atty. Agabin the fifth fishkill was a “hoax”.
At least two members of the Albay Sangguniang Panlalawigan staunchly defended Lafayette against the accusations.
The true picture of what happened was distorted by Lafayette itself when its managers denied in public their culpability for the October 2005 fishkills but admitted it in their private communications to the DENR.
The truth about Lafayette operations was suppressed when the Philippine Daily Inquirer removed from its February 17, 2007 issue the body of the story titled “Environmentalists from 27 nations sign petition for investors in Rapu-Rapu mine to pull out. We searched every page of the issue but the story was nowhere.
If we remember correctly, it was the RRFFC specially Bishop Bastes who was severely vilified.
Mr. Wallace wrote:
When I come across media’s virulent attacks on mining, on top of the tirades of some members of the Church and well-funded NGOs, I wonder why mining companies even bother at all. Why not just leave the Philippines to be a backwater with its people in poverty? I’m not aware of any action any of these groups are doing that would give a job and a decent life to Filipinos. I’m not even aware of any positive action many of these groups are taking to improve the environment.
We also wonder why despite the strong and loud protests against mining companies they still remain in the country. Makapal ang mukha is our word for it. We also wonder why a guest of the Philippines is allowed to stay here longer than a day after insulting us with: Why not just leave the Philippines to be a backwater with its people in poverty? We had prosperity in the 1800s from the abaca industry. Our economy was second only to Japan’s in the 1960’s. It never boomed because of mining. Masbate and Camarines Norte have been mined since the Spanish times but they remain among the poorest ten provinces to this day. Take these statistics:
Aroroy, Masbate has been a mining town since 1837 (http://www.geocities.com/ppsec/pp/masbate.htm) yet it is only a 2nd Class municipality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroroy,_Masbate). Masbate is the poorest province of Bicol with a poverty incidence level of 62.8% according to the NSCB survey in 2000 (http://txtmania.com/trivia/national.php).
Paracale, Camarines Norte has been a mining town since 1939 (http://www.wallstreetreporter.com/linked/PearlAsianMiningIndustries.html) and yet it is only a 3rd Class municipality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracale,_Camarines_Norte). Camarines Norte is the second poorest province of Bicol, with a poverty incidence level of 52.7% according to the NSCB survey in 2000 (http://txtmania.com/trivia/national.php).
Rapu-Rapu, Albay has been mined since the 1930’s but it is only a 4th Class municipality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapu-Rapu,_Albay ), the poorest in the province.
Both Masbate and Camarines Norte are listed as among the country’s ten (10) poorest provinces per NSCB survey in 2000 (http://txtmania.com/trivia/national.php).
On the other hand, the country’s richest provinces and congressional districts derive their wealth not from mining but other industries:
In its 2000 survey, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) identified the ten provinces with the lowest poverty incidence levels. Each of the four districts in Metro Manila, composed of several cities and/or municipalities, was treated as a province in the survey.
1. 2nd district of Metro Manila1 4.1 percent (a)
2. 4th district of Metro Manila2 4.9 percent (b)
3. Bulacan, 5.4 percent
4. 1st district of Metro Manila (Manila), 5.8 percent (c)
5. Batanes, 7.5 percent
6. Rizal, 8 percent
7. Laguna, 8.6 percent
8. 3rd district of Metro Manila3, 9 percent
9. Bataan, 9.9 percent
10. Cavite, 10.2 percent.
(a) Mandaluyong, Marikina, Pasig, Quezon City and San Juan
(b) Las Pinas, Makati, Muntinlupa, Paranaque, Pasay, Pateros and Taguig
(c) Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon and Navotas
(Source: http://www.txtmania.com/trivia/national.php)
If those are not enough, consider these:
-----------------------Share in non-fuel minerals --------Population
-----------------------in Value of total Exports -------below Poverty line
Country -----------------(percent)-----------------------(percent)
Guinea-----------------------17----------------------------- 40
Niger-------------------------67----------------------------- 63
Zambia-----------------------66----------------------------- 86
Jamaica----------------------53----------------------------- 34
Chile--------------------------43----------------------------- 21
Peru---------------------------40----------------------------- 49
Congo------------------ ------40----------------------------- 49
Mauritania-------------------40----------------------------- n.a.
Papua New Guinea----------35------------------------------ 57
Togo--------------------------30------------------------------ 32
(Source: UNCTAD Handbook of World Mineral Trade Statistics; World Bank Development Indicators; UN Development Programme: Human Development Report 2001, quoted in the lecture of Dr. Giovanni Tapang of the University of the Philippines College of Engineering on January 31, 2006 at the Daragang Magayon Hall of Aquinas University of Legazpi).
The data show that these countries’ exports are composed of high percentages of non-fuel minerals and yet the percentages of their populations below poverty line are also very high. In his testimony before the commission on April 6, Hon. Alvarez stated that the mining communities of the Cordilleras, Canada, and Australia “have become miserable patches of poverty after the gold or the mineral ore was extracted.” So, what poverty alleviation can arise from mining?
These statements are downright arrogant: “I’m not aware of any action any of these groups are doing that would give a job and a decent life to Filipinos. I’m not even aware of any positive action many of these groups are taking to improve the environment.”
It is the problem of Mr. Wallace if he is unaware of certain things. Everyone has the privilege to choose ignorance. But arrogance is entirely different. He is unaware of the effect of Lafayette mining on the fish catch of fishermen in Rapu-Rapu – a decline of 68% according to an Ibon Foundation study in February 2007. Of the 286 jobs in the mine, only 131 are for the residents of Rapu-Rapu. The company promised 1000 during start up and 416 during normal operation in a Powerpoint presentation in 2001. The anti-mining NGOs are the ones protecting the livelihood of people. All that mining companies can give to ordinary people are menial jobs while their executives sitting in airconditioned offices earn millions. Mr. Wallace only has to read the annual reports of Lafayette to verify this. Not only are mining companies depriving people of their livelihood. The companies are also destroying the resources that should have been protected for the use of future generations as sustainable development requires.
Mr. Wallace also wrote:
If I were a mining company I’d like the government to tell me what it has done, and will do to fully protect my investment and my people. I’m not going to invest in a place where both are at risk. I’d have called all the mining company representatives that are here for an extended dialogue (meaning, two-way talks) about these issues: What are the concerns? What will be done about them?
Specific actions and corresponding deadlines committed to. I’ve offered to arrange it, but thus far I’ve had no response from government.
Since I am a taxpayer (while mining companies are given so much tax breaks) I’d like the government to tell me what it has done, and will do to fully protect my tax and my people. I’m not going to continue supporting an administration that places both at risk. I call on it to scrap the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. After 15 years, where is the development? What have mining companies like Lafayette done to our national patrimony?
Why demand response from our government? Mr. Wallace is not a citizen. He is better deported back to Australia for insulting us and advocating interests inimical to the Filipino people.
Mr. Wallace's article was downloaded from
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=peterWallace_oct26_2007 October 27, 2007
The island of Rapu-Rapu in Albay, Philippines, is hostage to RRPP, formerly owned by Lafayette Mining Ltd of Australia, now taken over by LG & KORES of South Korea and MSC of Malaysia. Victim of compromised laws & corrupt government officials, the residents can only brace themselves for more ecological disasters & their effects: health problems, loss of land & livelihood, & uncertain future, UNLESS WE TAKE ACTION TO CLOSE THE RAPU-RAPU MINE.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Would You Plant Your Feet in Mid-air?
(A response to Peter Wallace’s "Would You Invest Here?")
George Bernard Shaw once said about liberals as people who “have their feet solidly planted in mid-air.” We have nothing against liberals, neither anything in favor of conservatives nor something about those in the grey area between. Also, we do not know if the Australian columnist Peter Wallace is a liberal, conservative or anywhere in the grey area between. Of one thing, however, we are certain: as to the reality of life for the millions of toiling masses of Filipinos, Mr. Wallace is way up in his Cloud 9. We do not blame him. He is an alien from Down Under where life is more pleasant. The Philippines is poor because we citizen Filipinos have no control over and do not benefit from our own natural resources. Those resources have been given over to foreigners by Filipino authorities who are junior partners of the former. The toiling masses get meager wages, the junior partners get much but the foreign investor reaps the lion’s share. In Rapu-Rapu, for example, based on figures from Lafayette itself, the gain is $37.5 for every $1 invested. If the Philippines is in such a mess, most of the cause is foreign domination which, today, masquerades as foreign investment which Mr. Wallace taunts us to accept hook, line and sinker much like the spider that welcomed its victims to the parlor:
Come hither, hither, pretty Fly, with the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple — there’s a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead!”
Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little Fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by;
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue –
Thinking only of her crested head — poor foolish thing! At last,
Up jumped the cunning Spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
Within his little parlour — but she ne’er came out again!
And now dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly flattering words, I pray you ne’er give heed:
Unto an evil counsellor, close heart and ear and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly.
Again, take the case of the residents of Rapu-Rapu. Mr. Wallace once wrote, “where’s the pot of gold?” (Manila Standard Today October 26, 2007) We ask, in Rapu-Rapu where’s the development? When our NGO volunteers went there in August 2009, they saw a woman making hard brooms out of coconut midribs. Each sells for P15 (about 35 US cents). She makes four in a day. Yet, the coconuts are threatened by destruction as the mining operation of the former Lafayette Mining Limited of Australia through its local subsidiary, Lafayette Philippines, Inc. (now named Korea Malaysia Philippines Resources, Inc) expands from the southern tip to the north of the island.
Mr. Wallace is in the Philippines to convince Filipinos that Australian investment is good. We do know it is good! But good for whom? Certainly for them; we have doubts if it is, for Filipinos. The Rapu-Rapu trauma from Lafayette Mining Limited of Australia may not be the representative case of their engagement here but it definitely opens our minds to the very real phenomenon of good intentions paving the road to hell.
On March 5, 2010 Mr. Wallace wrote in the Manila Standard Today:
A mine (Lafayette) was closed for a mining spill that did no measurable damage. A delay of over 6 months to approve reopening forced the company into bankruptcy. Bishop Arturo Bastes lied to encourage that closure, which the government acquiesced to.
Mr. Wallace strayed too far from the facts of that unhappy incident (unhappy, for us here in the locality) as the following rebuttals would prove:
The mining spills of 2005 did a lot of damage. – Lafayette violated the Clean Water Act of the Philippines. It was slapped with a total of P16 million in fines. Mr. Wallace can go over the records of the Pollution Adjudication Board. If the fines were undeserved, then Mr. Wallace can initiate a refund proceeding.
The people of Rapu-Rapu and surrounding towns suffered immensely from income loss because the fish in Albay Gulf were poisoned with cyanide measured at 35 parts per million (the tolerable limit is 0.05 ppm). (Source: Mines and Geosciences Bureau “Fact sheet on the Mercury Issue in Albay” dated February 2, 2006 Page 9) While the executives of Lafayette continued to earn their millions in salaries, the fishermen of Albay and Sorsogon lost their meager incomes. The pre-operation survey of Lafayette revealed that the fishermen in the primary impact barangays of Malobago, Pagcolbon and Binosawan were earning P19.8 million a year. (Source: Lafayette Powerpoint presentation titled Baseline Data slide 12). The company did not reveal any economic impact study after the mining operation started. However, Ibon Foundation learned, through a study in February 2007, that the average weekly income of fishermen in five barangays (Poblacion, Malobago, Binosawan, Tinopan in Rapu-Rapu and Billante in Prioto Diaz) dropped by 68.56%. (Ibon Foundation; Mining Rapu-Rapu’s Pot of Gold, a Study on the Socioeconomic Impacts of the Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Project on the Residents of Rapu-Rapu, Albay and Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon). These are the hard facts on the ground. So, where’s the development? Would you invest in mining here and still raise your nose high in civilized society?
Mr. Wallace should have been there when the women, children and some men from Rapu-Rapu Island stormed the session of the Albay Provincial Board on December 12, 2007. Ms. Shanta Martin, then with Oxfam Australia, was there to witness for all Australians. Those people dared to storm a government function because they have been suffering from immeasurable damage. Does Mr. Wallace still insist on his “no measurable damage”? Perhaps, he is right - because “no measurable damage” also translates to immeasurable damage!
November 2005 to July 2006 was not a period of total closure. – During that period, Rapu-Rapu Processing, Inc. was ordered to stop but, Lafayette’s other arm, the Rapu-Rapu Minerals, Inc. continued to blast the open pit and quarry for gold, silver, copper and zinc. The dust continued to settle on the surrounding villages and the shaking of the ground was felt as far as the town center. Instead of totally closing the mine, erstwhile DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes ordered a “test run” following the advice of one member of the Rapu-Rapu Fact-finding Commission, Mr. Gregorio Tabuena. What took place were one “test run” after another until the mine had a semblance of compliance with the Clean Water Act of the Philippines. True enough, the runs were not tests but “tutorials.” A test is administered by a teacher on a student who works independently. In the case of Lafayette, the Technical Working Group was behind the company tutoring it on what to do when there were failures (the TWG Report shows that on July 20-21, 2006 there was a fishkill; the graphs of the readings of heavy metal content of samples were “way above the charts.”)
Lafayette was not bankrupt. It could afford to pay Mr. Roderick Watt $ 365,867 or the equivalent of P18,293,350 (at exchange rates prevailing in 2006 and 2007) despite the October spills. Mr. David Baker earned $ 1,197,884 or P 55,433,075. (Source: LML Annual Reports for 2006 and 2007) Lafayette is like the man who went to a feast and later complained that he starved!
Some impudence.- Mr. Wallace has the temerity to write: Bishop Arturo Bastes lied to encourage that closure, which the government acquiesced to. If Mr. Wallace wrote a similar charge against a Muslim imam, he would have deserved a fatwah call for death. But we are Catholics and we are reminded of the first of the Seven Last Words of Christ: Forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).
It is bad enough that an Australian meddles in Philippine affairs. It is worse that a foreigner insults a Filipino. It is worst that a foreign meddler fallaciously writes in the press of a predominantly Catholic country that a bishop lied!
Bishop Arturo Bastes, SVD of the Diocese of Sorsogon told the truth that the Commission, formed with presidential approval, recommended the closure of the Rapu-Rapu mine. The government did not acquiesce to the recommendation. On the contrary, Sec. Reyes allowed Lafayette to undergo “tutorial” runs; the company failed the “tutorials” as the TWG Report proves; and yet Lafayette was permitted in the end to continue normal operations. That is the bare truth! Wallace is the one lying!
How would he know the truth about Rapu-Rapu? He was never here. He did not see the mother of three children who almost died after eating poisoned fish from the seashore. He does not feel the earth shaken when RRMI blasts the open pit. He does not traverse hills and creeks on foot for seven hours just to sell farm produce in the town center. He cannot see the brown, yellow and orange colors of creeks emanating from the minesite and disgorging their waters into Albay Gulf. He is way up there in Could 9, his feet solidly planted in mid-air.
To prove how absurd the position of this Wallace is, the reader is invited to read his article titled “Corruption is endemic – but must it be?” published in the Manila Standard Today on April 9, 2010. After devoting ten paragraphs to the corruption of the Berlusconi government in Italy, Mr. Wallace writes: Don’t you find yourself transcribing “Philippines” into each of the paragraphs above?
What is the point of mentioning this? The point is that Mr. Wallace himself is convinced that the Philippines is wracked with corruption. If he knows the Philippines that much then he also knows how deep corruption has crept into the implementation of environmental laws, the Mining Act of 1995 included. For example, he should know that Lafayette’s lawyer offered P5 million to the local officials of Rapu-Rapu to get the latter’s assent to the reopening of the mine. Lafayette itself drafted the resolution supposed to be passed by the municipal council calling for the resumption of mine operation. There is the National Bureau of Investigation Legazpi District Office Report which concluded that there was no contamination in and around the mine site yet it says the sampling was done on April 4, 2006 then submitted to the NBI Forensic Chemistry Division in Manila on March 28, 2006 – one week before the date of sample gathering! Asked through two letters how this discrepancy in dates happened, the NBI Legazpi District Office never gave a formal reply, just a verbal word that we did not deserve a copy of the report because we were not the ones who commissioned the NBI investigation. I had a chance to divulge this discrepancy in a conference of pollution control officers on May 9, 2007 in Casablanca Hotel in Legazpi City in the presence of Engr. Jason Magdaong of Lafayette. The engineer replied that his company had nothing to do with the NBI Legazpi report!
A lot more skeletons in the closet await anyone who would care to read about the Lafayette misadventure in Rapu-Rapu. I have written a book about it. It is due for launching soon.
George Bernard Shaw once said about liberals as people who “have their feet solidly planted in mid-air.” We have nothing against liberals, neither anything in favor of conservatives nor something about those in the grey area between. Also, we do not know if the Australian columnist Peter Wallace is a liberal, conservative or anywhere in the grey area between. Of one thing, however, we are certain: as to the reality of life for the millions of toiling masses of Filipinos, Mr. Wallace is way up in his Cloud 9. We do not blame him. He is an alien from Down Under where life is more pleasant. The Philippines is poor because we citizen Filipinos have no control over and do not benefit from our own natural resources. Those resources have been given over to foreigners by Filipino authorities who are junior partners of the former. The toiling masses get meager wages, the junior partners get much but the foreign investor reaps the lion’s share. In Rapu-Rapu, for example, based on figures from Lafayette itself, the gain is $37.5 for every $1 invested. If the Philippines is in such a mess, most of the cause is foreign domination which, today, masquerades as foreign investment which Mr. Wallace taunts us to accept hook, line and sinker much like the spider that welcomed its victims to the parlor:
Come hither, hither, pretty Fly, with the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple — there’s a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead!”
Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little Fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by;
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue –
Thinking only of her crested head — poor foolish thing! At last,
Up jumped the cunning Spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
Within his little parlour — but she ne’er came out again!
And now dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly flattering words, I pray you ne’er give heed:
Unto an evil counsellor, close heart and ear and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly.
Again, take the case of the residents of Rapu-Rapu. Mr. Wallace once wrote, “where’s the pot of gold?” (Manila Standard Today October 26, 2007) We ask, in Rapu-Rapu where’s the development? When our NGO volunteers went there in August 2009, they saw a woman making hard brooms out of coconut midribs. Each sells for P15 (about 35 US cents). She makes four in a day. Yet, the coconuts are threatened by destruction as the mining operation of the former Lafayette Mining Limited of Australia through its local subsidiary, Lafayette Philippines, Inc. (now named Korea Malaysia Philippines Resources, Inc) expands from the southern tip to the north of the island.
Mr. Wallace is in the Philippines to convince Filipinos that Australian investment is good. We do know it is good! But good for whom? Certainly for them; we have doubts if it is, for Filipinos. The Rapu-Rapu trauma from Lafayette Mining Limited of Australia may not be the representative case of their engagement here but it definitely opens our minds to the very real phenomenon of good intentions paving the road to hell.
On March 5, 2010 Mr. Wallace wrote in the Manila Standard Today:
A mine (Lafayette) was closed for a mining spill that did no measurable damage. A delay of over 6 months to approve reopening forced the company into bankruptcy. Bishop Arturo Bastes lied to encourage that closure, which the government acquiesced to.
Mr. Wallace strayed too far from the facts of that unhappy incident (unhappy, for us here in the locality) as the following rebuttals would prove:
The mining spills of 2005 did a lot of damage. – Lafayette violated the Clean Water Act of the Philippines. It was slapped with a total of P16 million in fines. Mr. Wallace can go over the records of the Pollution Adjudication Board. If the fines were undeserved, then Mr. Wallace can initiate a refund proceeding.
The people of Rapu-Rapu and surrounding towns suffered immensely from income loss because the fish in Albay Gulf were poisoned with cyanide measured at 35 parts per million (the tolerable limit is 0.05 ppm). (Source: Mines and Geosciences Bureau “Fact sheet on the Mercury Issue in Albay” dated February 2, 2006 Page 9) While the executives of Lafayette continued to earn their millions in salaries, the fishermen of Albay and Sorsogon lost their meager incomes. The pre-operation survey of Lafayette revealed that the fishermen in the primary impact barangays of Malobago, Pagcolbon and Binosawan were earning P19.8 million a year. (Source: Lafayette Powerpoint presentation titled Baseline Data slide 12). The company did not reveal any economic impact study after the mining operation started. However, Ibon Foundation learned, through a study in February 2007, that the average weekly income of fishermen in five barangays (Poblacion, Malobago, Binosawan, Tinopan in Rapu-Rapu and Billante in Prioto Diaz) dropped by 68.56%. (Ibon Foundation; Mining Rapu-Rapu’s Pot of Gold, a Study on the Socioeconomic Impacts of the Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Project on the Residents of Rapu-Rapu, Albay and Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon). These are the hard facts on the ground. So, where’s the development? Would you invest in mining here and still raise your nose high in civilized society?
Mr. Wallace should have been there when the women, children and some men from Rapu-Rapu Island stormed the session of the Albay Provincial Board on December 12, 2007. Ms. Shanta Martin, then with Oxfam Australia, was there to witness for all Australians. Those people dared to storm a government function because they have been suffering from immeasurable damage. Does Mr. Wallace still insist on his “no measurable damage”? Perhaps, he is right - because “no measurable damage” also translates to immeasurable damage!
November 2005 to July 2006 was not a period of total closure. – During that period, Rapu-Rapu Processing, Inc. was ordered to stop but, Lafayette’s other arm, the Rapu-Rapu Minerals, Inc. continued to blast the open pit and quarry for gold, silver, copper and zinc. The dust continued to settle on the surrounding villages and the shaking of the ground was felt as far as the town center. Instead of totally closing the mine, erstwhile DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes ordered a “test run” following the advice of one member of the Rapu-Rapu Fact-finding Commission, Mr. Gregorio Tabuena. What took place were one “test run” after another until the mine had a semblance of compliance with the Clean Water Act of the Philippines. True enough, the runs were not tests but “tutorials.” A test is administered by a teacher on a student who works independently. In the case of Lafayette, the Technical Working Group was behind the company tutoring it on what to do when there were failures (the TWG Report shows that on July 20-21, 2006 there was a fishkill; the graphs of the readings of heavy metal content of samples were “way above the charts.”)
Lafayette was not bankrupt. It could afford to pay Mr. Roderick Watt $ 365,867 or the equivalent of P18,293,350 (at exchange rates prevailing in 2006 and 2007) despite the October spills. Mr. David Baker earned $ 1,197,884 or P 55,433,075. (Source: LML Annual Reports for 2006 and 2007) Lafayette is like the man who went to a feast and later complained that he starved!
Some impudence.- Mr. Wallace has the temerity to write: Bishop Arturo Bastes lied to encourage that closure, which the government acquiesced to. If Mr. Wallace wrote a similar charge against a Muslim imam, he would have deserved a fatwah call for death. But we are Catholics and we are reminded of the first of the Seven Last Words of Christ: Forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).
It is bad enough that an Australian meddles in Philippine affairs. It is worse that a foreigner insults a Filipino. It is worst that a foreign meddler fallaciously writes in the press of a predominantly Catholic country that a bishop lied!
Bishop Arturo Bastes, SVD of the Diocese of Sorsogon told the truth that the Commission, formed with presidential approval, recommended the closure of the Rapu-Rapu mine. The government did not acquiesce to the recommendation. On the contrary, Sec. Reyes allowed Lafayette to undergo “tutorial” runs; the company failed the “tutorials” as the TWG Report proves; and yet Lafayette was permitted in the end to continue normal operations. That is the bare truth! Wallace is the one lying!
How would he know the truth about Rapu-Rapu? He was never here. He did not see the mother of three children who almost died after eating poisoned fish from the seashore. He does not feel the earth shaken when RRMI blasts the open pit. He does not traverse hills and creeks on foot for seven hours just to sell farm produce in the town center. He cannot see the brown, yellow and orange colors of creeks emanating from the minesite and disgorging their waters into Albay Gulf. He is way up there in Could 9, his feet solidly planted in mid-air.
To prove how absurd the position of this Wallace is, the reader is invited to read his article titled “Corruption is endemic – but must it be?” published in the Manila Standard Today on April 9, 2010. After devoting ten paragraphs to the corruption of the Berlusconi government in Italy, Mr. Wallace writes: Don’t you find yourself transcribing “Philippines” into each of the paragraphs above?
What is the point of mentioning this? The point is that Mr. Wallace himself is convinced that the Philippines is wracked with corruption. If he knows the Philippines that much then he also knows how deep corruption has crept into the implementation of environmental laws, the Mining Act of 1995 included. For example, he should know that Lafayette’s lawyer offered P5 million to the local officials of Rapu-Rapu to get the latter’s assent to the reopening of the mine. Lafayette itself drafted the resolution supposed to be passed by the municipal council calling for the resumption of mine operation. There is the National Bureau of Investigation Legazpi District Office Report which concluded that there was no contamination in and around the mine site yet it says the sampling was done on April 4, 2006 then submitted to the NBI Forensic Chemistry Division in Manila on March 28, 2006 – one week before the date of sample gathering! Asked through two letters how this discrepancy in dates happened, the NBI Legazpi District Office never gave a formal reply, just a verbal word that we did not deserve a copy of the report because we were not the ones who commissioned the NBI investigation. I had a chance to divulge this discrepancy in a conference of pollution control officers on May 9, 2007 in Casablanca Hotel in Legazpi City in the presence of Engr. Jason Magdaong of Lafayette. The engineer replied that his company had nothing to do with the NBI Legazpi report!
A lot more skeletons in the closet await anyone who would care to read about the Lafayette misadventure in Rapu-Rapu. I have written a book about it. It is due for launching soon.