Home 
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued a pastoral letter on December 8 condemning the “uncontrollable plunder of the country’s resources.” It also took to task the mining industry for its “poor record of community accountability.”
The bishops were not wrong.
Both government and mining companies have done little in ensuring the welfare of some communities affected by their operations.
True, mining firms are required by law to allocate P900,000 for its Social Development and Management Program (SDMP), which finances the community development programs of the affected mining communities.
But the amount is too small, considering mining industry has been cited by economics experts as one of several businesses that have survived the economic recession and is expected to do well in the first quarter of next year.
Mining companies operating in Central Visayas and unregulated small-scale mining activities have also been blamed for landslides and floods that sweep away properties, or worse, claim several lives.
Where, whom and what to blame for this sorry predicament?
For starters, there is this flawed Mining Act of 1995 enacted during the Ramos administration that virtually opened the floodgates for (at best) poorly regulated mining operations intended to benefit the multinational companies whose investments are much sought for, but whose earnings are sourced out to their mother companies abroad.
If these social development programs by mining companies were even half effective, then most residents of mining communities would not have to resort to small-scale mining, which exposes them to the dangers of cave-ins and potential long-term exposure to chemicals that can damage their health.
Negligence is also seen at the local level where the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) admitted the lack of, or even absence of, ordinances that regulate small-scale mining.
While these mining companies bear their share of responsibility for whatever damage they inflict on the environment and the communities, the government gets the onus of the blame for agreeing to engage in the wholesale barter of the country’s natural resources in exchange for revenues that are, at best, negligible compared to the obscene profits these companies make at our expense.
Not that the MGB and its parent government agency, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), is totally inutile in performing their jobs in this part of the country.
These agencies recently crossed paths with Consolacion Mayor Avelino Gungob, whose apparent tolerance for quarrying activities for a supposed road project raised the hackles of a nearby property owner and caught the attention of the Cebu provincial government.
But us taxpayers certainly don’t pay these government agencies to perform their jobs half well. To use an old Biblical adage, these agencies and the mining companies were “measured and weighed and found wanting.”
At the very least, the DENR and the MGB should exert pressure on these mining companies to give more to the affected communities and implement programs that actually help them and not just to enhance their corporate image.
