Mining won’t solve RP’s fiscal crisis, says environmental lawyer

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- There is no proof to claims that liberalizing the mining industry could be the answer to the country’s financial crisis and the P47 trillion expected from it is just based on the estimated mineral reserves per region, according to lawyer Marvic Leonen in a round table discussion on mining at the Dynasty Court Hotel here sponsored by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center.
“This speculated amount is not sourced from fixed accounting because aside from mere addition, the prices of metal in the market are volatile… could rise up or pull down,” Leonen, lead counsel of La Bugal in a case against Western Mining 
Corporation, told his audience of 30 law students from the cities of Butuan, Iligan, Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro.
Based on figures cited by Director Romulo Neri of the National Economic 
Development Authority, Leonen made a computation which showed that the government can only get an average income of .33% from the value of gold.
“It’s less than a cent, not reaching a cent,” he said, adding, “so, how could P 157 billion tax revenue be possible?”
“In large scale mining, the government could only earn from excise tax and not on production tax,” he noted.
“Excise tax is imposed on per value of metal only, hence it’s not a sharing on the basis of ownership and production of minerals but a sharing on exaction. Is this constitutional?” he asked.
“So, why are we rushing to destroy our resources when we will only get .33 cents per value of metal extracted; when there is no equitable sharing of net profit from the extracted resources?” he asked.
“Moreover, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is a passive regulator of mining operations because it will only wait for the submission of the company’s work plan,” he said.
“Why can’t a representative of the government sit in the Board of Directors of a mining company to take part in the decision-making of mining operation especially on matters affecting numerous people? Oh, the Supreme Court said ‘its interference and its bad’ and I said why not when those affected by displacements are citizens of the country?” he continued.
Leonen also said the government will not earn much from mining because companies would avail of tax exemptions and “net losses carry over” in the next five years during which the government will spend more on instead of benefit from mining.
“The Government sends Army in the mine site, spends for environmental rehabilitation, displacement of people from its livelihood with culture shocks, and relocation of people…… the entire bureaucracy is spending for this,” he said.
“We will have a full-blown economic crisis from environmental destruction, political dissatisfaction and social upheavals… too ripe for revolution,” he warned.(Violeta M. Gloria/MindaNews)