Unfair imposition

The House Committee on Ways and Means has reportedly approved a substitute bill imposing a one to five percent royalty on the margins of mining companies outside designated mineral reservations, and a three percent royalty based on gross output for those inside these areas.

The Department of Finance earlier said it wants a five percent royalty on gross output of miners everywhere.

These will be imposed on top of all other taxes, such as the four percent  excise tax, the royalty to indigenous people, and an average 1.7 percent local business tax among others.

The current system only imposes a five percent royalty on mining firms within mineral reservations. The TRAIN law also increased the excise tax from two to four percent.

According to news reports, the bill also proposed a surcharge for open-pit mining, but was later omitted following an appeal made by the mining industry that this will penalize and in effect prohibit an existing extraction method that is currently allowed.

Open-pit mining is accepted worldwide as an efficient and safe method for harvesting mineral deposits near the surface. Recent data show that top mining countries have numerous open-pit mines like the US with 1,891; China 109; Australia 94; Thailand 67; and Russia 66.

A compliant open pit mining reduces the complexity, risks, and hazards of mining, even as it is less expensive than underground mining.

The mining of copper and gold brings in much-needed foreign investments to the Philippines on a long-term basis. Unlike nickel operations, copper mining companies need to process their ore and export them as concentrates. Various smelting plants (one of which is in the Philippines – PASAR) require a huge supply of copper concentrates and the Philippines has undeveloped copper deposits. 

Despite some opposition to open pit mining, Dr. Carlo Arcilla in a policy paper published by Startbase-ADR Institute noted that mining cycle should only be judged if rehabilitation has been done properly on disturbed areas, adding that mining is not complete until rehabilitation is finished.

Some of the open pit mines that have been transformed into productive land uses include the Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia in Canada which was formerly a limestone quarry that became a world-famous tourist attraction and was named a National Historic Site.

Another example is the Eden Project in Cornwall, England. The former Kaolinite pit became a massive greenhouse complex touted as the largest indoor rainforest in the world. In Sweden, it has the Dalhalla, an open-air theater that took advantage of the change in land formation to provide superb acoustics for live performances.

Business want peace

Another province that is blessed with rich resources, whether it be agricultural, fishing, mineral deposits, and tourism attractions, is Camarines Sur in the Bicol region.

CamSur businessmen however are saying that political infighting in the province is not helping the local economy and may even scare away potential investors.

Just recently, CamSur first district Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., who filed his candidacy for governor, was reported to have escaped an assassination attempt on him. Just after filing his candidacy and coming out of the local Comelec office, a certain Ray John Muna reportedly approached him and allegedly tried to pull out his gun which fell to the ground. Muna was immediately seized by authorities. 

But CamSur Gov. LRay Villafuerte called the assassination attempt against Andaya as fake news invented by Andaya and his cohorts.  He said that both the police and the prosecutor’s office have denied the insistence of Andaya that there was an attempt to kill him.

 Local businessmen have also asked Andaya to clear himself of the eight charges filed by Greco Belgica of the Coalition of Truth and Justice and of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) for violations of the SALN Law and of the Anti- Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Andaya also has a pending criminal information with the Sandiganbayan for technical malversation of public funds for allegedly facilitating the illegal diversion of some P900 million in Malampaya funds when he was still budget secretary for purposes other than those authorized by law. 

The businessman are also saying that the case filed by Belgica should serve as a test case for the Office of the Ombudsman under the new leadership of retired  Supreme Court Justice Samuel Martires, who has vowed that there would be no sacred cows in the investigation of cases filed before the Ombudsman on his watch.

Belgica’s group has accused Andaya of having unexplained and undeclared wealth  as shown by questionable entries in his SALN for 2016 and 2017. 

In his complaint, Belgica urged the Ombudsman to place Andaya under preventive suspension pending its investigation into the allegations, and if found guilty, be perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

In his defense, Andaya claimed that the complaint by the Truth and Justice Coalition was an expensive political hatchet job launched by his opponents.

Helping others to help themselves

The people of General Santos City in Mindanao, blessed with rich agricultural and fishing industries, are enjoying bigger blessings, thanks to a community ministry that is focusing on improving the lives of GenSanons.

A whole new faith led by a certain PJA ventures into several businesses such as tuna fishing, gasoline stations, mining, farming, and tailoring, among others, and then plows back profits directly to its members and followers and to the government by way of taxes.

PJA and his Christian Catholic ministry have been the prime movers of GenSan and Sarangani’s renewed faith while alleviating people from poverty.

According to one story, a lady member of the ministry badly needed money for her son’s hospitalization. Immediately PJA, through one of his fellowships, asked the members to donate P1 each to help their fellow member.

PJA also facilitated the Balik-Pamahalaan program of the more than 3,000 members of the New People‘s Army in Davao and Saranggani last year. They are now members of PJA’s Christian Catholic Ministry.

PJA wants his followers to obey authority and to recognize the importance of government’s role and contribution to their mission, even as he believes that Constitution prohibits restricting by law or regulation religious practice.

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