Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Hard Try

PHL SITS ON $840-B OF UNTAPPED MINERAL  WEALTH - U.S.
MANILA, MARCH 1, 2012 (INQUIRER) By: Jerry E. Esplanada


http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/be/be004479.htm


It is a thing to be proud of that we have been recognized worldwide to be one of the TOP 10 gold and copper producers. But that was a long time ago. The article made me wonder why does the Philippine government haven’t maintained this bountiful industry considering that it is always there, you just have to get it.

                We can see how lucky we are on the presence of these elements. Because of having such, minerals are being converted to money. Mining companies exist which offers jobs to the locals. Tourism Industry can also take advantage on this fact. I have just presented all the advantages that we can get on our natural resources to which can be all considered as unreachable due to dull usage of power and being irresponsible and I’m talking about officials and authorities that promote their own way of making more money and that is corruption.

                They lean their preference on those Large Scale Mining Companies that pays more taxes and can give them the things that they will eventually demand. Considering that most of these Mining Companies are foreign-owned companies pre-dominantly, the Philippines could not take advantage of our own natural resources. Small scale miners were deprived in their own land, deprived of the right to be assisted by the government and deprived of the minerals and natural resources that the Large Scale Miners have already been taken. Small Scale Mining can only pay the right amount of tax to the government and cannot provide the demands of those who are in authorities that is why they were not in the preference list to operate. Economic issue like this will always go down to its root which is corruption. We can not cite any vital reason.

                Why don’t we give the Filipinos these minerals and not the foreign ones, it is ours in the first place. Let the Filipinos be the producers and the foreigners to be the consumers. What’s happening right now is the exact opposite. A specific solution to compromise with this issue is a Law that will ban Foreign-owned Large Scale Mining Company to operate in our land. With this law, Filipino Mining Companies can operate in accordance to the terms and conditions set by the government. The scope of this ban is flexible and can be settled but the main requirement and purpose of this consideration is only for purposes of investments. But the very effective solution, in general, is to eliminate any forms of corruptions at any government offices and even in the private sectors. Let’s give it a hard try.