MisOr Board Members in a huddle. Unabia with the moustache
Irked by the indigenous peoples opposition to the issuance of small scale mining permits in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental Board Member Peter “Manok ni Senor Pedro” Unabia suggested to do away with the requirement of tribal consent in mining applications, particularly in uninhabited areas. According to Unabia, the indigenous peoples opposition tends to discourage potential investors from pouring their capital into the local areas. Short of saying it, Unabia looks at IPs as stumbling block to progress. On the other hand, the indigenous people’s opposition is on the ground that the area applied for is part of their ancestral domain. The law is clear however on the matter.
In Section 3 Republic Act 8371, otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples’ Act, as “the consensus of all members of the ICCs/IPs to be determined with their respective customary laws and practices, free from any external manipulation, interference, coercion, and obtained after fully disclosing the intent and scope of the activity, in a language and process understandable to the community.”
If this is so, what makes Board Member Unabia so much in a hurry like the province of Misamis Oriental has no other alternative source of revenue. For sure the premiere province is not starved with revenues. Big companies are located in Misamis Oriental. In fact Hanjin Industries is set to construct its shipyard in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental and the Laguindingan Airport will be finally operational in the not so distant future aside from the fact that German Coal Power Plant and the companies inside the Phividec Industrial Estates are fully operational. These small scale miners can wait. The rule of law must be followed and in this case the legal procedures must be strictly observed no matter how long it takes. Precisely, the Indigenous People’s Act was enacted to protect the interest of the tribesmen who’s rights to ancestral domain were repeatedly ignored and violated by rich and influential corporations and individuals in the past.
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Speaking of mining, several residents grumble that the said industry will not improve the lives of the locals. The mining firms operations, they say, is limited only to ore extraction meaning, the mining firms just take out the soil, load it to the ships and processed it somewhere else, more particularly Japan. The Filipinos are at the losing end in the said arrangement since the ores can produce several minerals, such as nickel, copper, and gold. Had the processing of these ores is done in the Philippines, the country could have earned more because the taxes or fees are based on the volume on the mineral extracted. The precious the mineral, the higher the price. In the present set up, what the mining firms pay is only the volume of the soil extracted.
Mining firms also posed moral costs. People are reporting that there is an increased demand for the worlds most oldest profession. Prostitutes are now making brisks business with demand for their services increased the mining firms foreign consultant are now frequenting the areas of operation, not to mention foreign vessels calling in ports near the affected areas. In some areas, mining firms themselves constructed mini ports for faster loading into the vessels. Prostitutes for their part go the source of potential income, these mini ports. With the mining operations going full force in some parts of Mindanao especially in the Caraga region, there is a possibility that the prostitution business come back with a vengeance even eclipsing its number at the time the country is still hosting the US bases in Subic and Clark bases.
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Whats this report that the Laguindingan Airport is not actually an international airport but an “airport of international standards.” According to an article by Stephen Capillas in Sun Star Cagayan de Oro, the Laguindingan airport is an airport of international standards which can be upgraded to international airport. I don’t think this was the original intent when the project was conceived in 1995. Im sure Misamisnons expect the same and to know that such has what come of its airport, is naturally a big letdown. If this is so, the allusion of such as an international airport should now be stopped to avoid confusion and misconception.
