How do you solve a problem like mining?

Our mountains and our marine ecosystem is in serious trouble because of the rapid mining activities going on. All you have to do is look at our mountains famously known as the Red Mountain and you will know what I mean. I dread the day when instead of seeing a mountain, we will instead see a big hole in place of the mountain. I also dread the day when I couldn't buy fresh fish anymore from our markets as a result of mining.

The thing that I fear most is the destruction of our ecosystem as a result of mining. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the effects of mining on our ecosystem. Here's a very instructive document from the United Nations University which discussed the effects of opencast nickel ore mining in New Caledonia similar to what miners are doing here:

New Caledonia Experience in opencast Mining

I qoute from the document: "Compared with other mining areas elsewhere in the world, the impact of opencast hilltop mining in New Caledonia has been exceptionally severe and extensive. Large areas have been decertified by the removal of weathered overburden from plateaux and hill crests, and by the spilling and slumping of waste material down hillsides and into neighbouring valleys. It is of course almost impossible to extract the nickel ores, which occur at the base of weathering mantles up to 30 metres deep on these summit plains, without conspicuous devastation; the only way would be to excavate a crater, leaving the rim intact, and working rotationally downwards through the overburden until the richest ores were encountered, although this would be very costly."

This document is very instructive in the sense that the devastating effects of this type of mining can be reversed only if amounts can be reinvested into reforestation. It takes years however for the effects of reforestation to take root. It is also mentioned in the document that only certain species of plants may thrive on this particular terrain because of the high mineral content of the soil.

One of the most severe impacts of mining is siltation of our river systems and eventually our marine ecosystems. Tailings from mining will go down to our river systems and to Carrascal Bay and Lanuza Bay. This will slowly choke the life out of our marine ecosystem. This will also affect our tourism potential since our islands will not have white beaches anymore but instead, clay-colored beaches. Just look at the island across Hayanggabon in Claver.

So how do you solve the problem like mining? Two ways: Stop the mining activities or the government must seriously implement measures to prevent the destruction of the environment if mining must really continue.

Cantilan Fiesta

Depending on how you look at things, the recent town fiesta was either a success or another waste of resources. This has always been a problem for me: How do you measure the success of our town fiesta? Is it the number of stores that opened to sell varied items from pirated VCD's to ukay-ukay or is it the success of the different activities lined up by the LGU? Or is it simply the fact that we were able to get thru another fiesta without any serious incident happening? Or are you of that belief that our fiesta is plainly a celebration of our Blessed Mother's Assumption to Heaven?

I had the chance of walking around the vicinity of the public market to look at what the temporary stores have to offer to the public for consumption. I saw different items being hawked on temporary tents that can be easily folded up and transferred to the next town fiesta. It is amazing to see the entrepreneurial abilities of our fellow Filipinos to sell whatever the public wants but it also poses a question for me: How far can these people take their entrepreneurial abilities? Is this all they are going to do for the rest of their lives or is this just a temporary station in their lives? I cannot imagine myself doing what these transient businesses do. They are like the gypsies of Europe, nomadic and never in one place. The term gypsy, however, is also associated with crime such as theft, as stereotypical as this may sound. Wherever they go, the incidence of crime goes up. But is it true in their case? Only our police department will know the answer to this. What I saw though in the public market and the town plaza is enough to make you wonder if the LGU is exercising their regulatory powers to control these transient businesses. If they can impose fees for permanent businesses from sanitation fees to fire prevention fees, what do they impose on these temporary businesses that may prevent potential problems from occuring if they are allowed to do business here?

The first thing that came to my mind as I was walking thru the areas mentioned was the issue of sanitation. Where did these people dump their waste? With all those tents sprouting in the vicinity of the public market, was this not a public health issue that the LGU needs to seriously look into? I personally saw and smelled waste of different kinds, from the benign to the obscene. I could see plastic and all kinds of trash scattered all over the place and the putrid smell of human waste greeted me as I entered the place where the carnival was. I also saw in the public plaza clothes hanging from the trees surrounding the place. Was this not a public nuisance of the highest order? Have we regressed to being a third-rate town that we allowed this to happen? Why did our local government officials allow this to happen? Are we just content to say that they are there temporarily and that this is part of the celebration of the town fiesta? Can't we do something to change this practice? And who says celebrating the day of the Assumption is an excuse for this type of public spectacle?

If this how we measure success of the town fiesta, then we might as well change the meaning of the word success which according to the online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary means "favorable or desired outcome".

I cannot pass judgment on the "success" of the different activities lined up by the LGU except for the event on the 14th of August which I was able to attend, the so-called Live Band Concert. It was lively, with the party-goers going at it until the wee hours of the morning. The gym, however, was a mess after the concert with puke, or as they call it in local parlance "bahug sa iro", all over the place. Overall, the "live-band concert" was a success if you go by the definition of the word in the sense that the desired outcome, which I believe was to have a good time, was achieved.

Carnivals and all kinds of different activities form part and parcel of a town fiesta celebration but the activities surrounding the fiesta should be organized around the theme of the fiesta. The judgment of the overall success will have to be gauged against the overall theme of the town fiesta. Did it achieve the desired outcome of the theme? I guess only the organizers will know once they sit down and assess the results, if they ever do that, and your guess is as good as mine.

Proposed Sipangpang Mini-Hydro Electric Power Plant

There's an ongoing battle brewing in my lovely town of Cantilan regarding a proposal by the local government council with the prodding of the town mayor, Tomasa L. Guardo for the construction of a mini-hydro electric dam in the mountain barangay of Cabangahan. The debate is centered on the capability of the LGU to manage such an economic activity considering that it cannot even profitably manage an ice plant given by former Cong. Pichay.

As a background, a few years ago, an entrepreneurial son of Cantilan and, claims he, one of the few hydro-electric engineers in the country, Engr. Godolivo Urbiztondo, Jr. made a pitch to the town mayor for a mini-hydro electric dam to help supply the power needs of Cantilan. Currently, we are sourcing our power needs from Maria Cristina Falls. As people in my town can testify, the supply of electricity in our area is not sufficient since we are experiencing drops in power that lead to many brownouts. This proposal actually came at the right time considering our present power requirement.

But as they said, the devil is the details. Please click on the shortcut to read more about the proposal. http://www.dnv.com/certification/climatechange/Upload/Sipangpang%20Falls%20Small%20Hydropower%20project.080306.pdf

As a summary, the proposal will take advantage of a grant from the Czech Republic going towards the purchase of an electro-mechanical equipment and services at a cost of $25,000. As the proposal mentioned, this will be the first of its kind in the Philippines and will be used as "model" for future projects of this kind. It also mentions that since this is a potentially low carbon-emitting project, it will be the first project of its kind in the Philippines to be selling carbon credits called CER's, in accordance with the Kyoto protocol, to augment the income of the project. Sounds lovely, isn't it? However, I am quoting a text from the proposal:

"The Project faces barriers that impede its implementation on a BAU basis. The Project is not financially attractive without income from the sale of CERs. Without such supplementary income, the Project’s IRR will be lower than the benchmark. In addition to this investment barrier, the technology to be used is also a formidable barrier to project implementation. It will be the first hydropower plant in the Philippines to use such advanced technology. Such a lack of experience with this technology could cause problems with project operation and maintenance."

Below is the financial projections of the project:

Cost of the project (in $): 1,633,851.00
Current exchange rate 45.83
Cost in pesos 74,879,391.33
Electricity tariff (in $) 0.066
Current Exchange Rate 45.83
Electricity tariff (in Pesos) 3.02
Electricity Sales in kwh 4,905,600.00
Expenses in dollars 50,208.00

Income Statement in Pesos
Income 14,838,360.77
Expenses 2,301,032.64
Net Income 12,537,328.13
IRR 16.74%

The financial projections looks really attractive but if you dig deeper, you will realize that that's all it is, projection. Many questions come to mind regarding the financial feasibility of this project, like for example where the initial capital will come from. This is where the LGU has a not-so novel proposal of borrowing the money to finance the initial investment of P75m, in fact their loan application was I believe P80M because of the exchange rate at the time of the proposal. I am not sure if the cost of borrowing is included in the expenses of the projected income statement but if you compute the cost of borrowing at say a low 5% (I'm not sure how much cost of LGU borrowings is right now), that would still amount to P4M a year in interest expenses that the project will have to pay. If you look at their expenses of P2.3M, I have a reason to believe that this was not included in the computation. This to me is a very optimistic projection considering that the cost of corruption is not included in the computation.

Another point as stated in the qualification in the project proposal, the technology that will be used in the project is the first of its kind in the Philippines. Consideration also will have to be taken of the fact that Carbon credits will be sold to augment the income of the project, the first of its kind in the Philippines according to the project proposal. Will the LGU of Cantilan be able to manage this kind of project?

I doubt it very much.

Poor Migz!!

I agree with Conrado de Quiros that the most honorable thing that Migz could have done is to have conceded defeat before the Maguindanao votes were counted and his political capital would have risen. It would have been statesmanlike. He's only in his 30's. Why's he in a rush? He could have created an NGO to help push the implementation of his bio-ethanol law and make him a darling of the green community and the citizens too. He's a bright guy. He could have done other things to further enhance his image since he is already in the national consciousness and at the same time do some good for the country. In other words, there are other ways of serving the country. By 2010, had he chosen to concede, he would be an unbeatable candidate for senator. Look at Al Gore. He's a winner even though he "lost" the election.

Now that he "won", he has more troubles than he could imagine. The baggage of "winning" a disputed election weighs heavily on him. He won't have a good relationship with the present senators, especially the opposition, who won fair and square. He himself admitted the difficulty of working with the present senators especially so since his victory is tainted. He will be fending against an election protest with the Senate Electoral Tribunal. Plus the citizenry, especially those 11M who voted for Koko, and the punditocracy plus the bloggers will really give him a hard time. If I were in his shoes, I don't think I would be able to stand the heat but that's me. Politicians are a different breed. Their hides are as thick as that of a rhinoceros.

It will be all fun and games for Migz. But then again, this is the Philippines. Cheaters has a tendency of getting away with it.

Marine Ambush

What a horrible mess! The marines who died do not deserve the way they died unless of course you are an extreme Muslim fanatic who believe that Christians are infidels and deserve to die like an ordinary animal. This will only help fuel the animosity between Christians and Muslims, which is quite unfortunate considering the never-ending quest for peace in Western Mindanao. I have to qualify that the carnage happened in Southwestern Mindanao because people who are not familiar with the island always equate the violence happening in that part of the island as true in other parts of Mindanao. Contrast this with the report that the new Abu Sayyaf is "spiritual" http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=76182. I wonder if he feels spiritual after slaughtering the 14 marines, not to mention decapitation and cutting off of the arms and the private parts of some of the dead marines. But then again, who knows what goes on inside the heads of these barbarians.

What is sad is that majority of our brother Moros (I prefer to call them the traditional way) are peace loving people. We have our share of our compatriot Moros in our town and the reason why they moved to our town is that they wanted to get away from all the violence. I just don't understand why the people who are perpetrating the violence keep on doing it. Is it in their blood? I certainly don't think it is because a sane person would almost always try to avoid violence. Is it because they feel they are being discriminated against? If this is so, the way they are going about it is certainly inviting more recriminations from the Christian majority and only perpetuates the stereotype of a Moro barbarian. If it is an independent Bangsa Moro they want, this is certainly not the way to do it since it only shows that they cannot run their own independent nation if they want to pursue violence. The experiment called the ARMM is the poster child for a "How not to Run a Nation" campaign. They also keep saying that they want the whole island of Mindanao to become the Bangsa Moro Republic which to me is out of this world considering that not all the "lumad" tribes who are the original occupants of the island are Moros. It's no small wonder that we will never find peace in Mindanao. This cannot be even compared to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because the Palestinians deserve to have their rightful claim to the land since they were the original settlers until they were driven out because of a formula imposed by the British. When will this ever end? Your guess is as good as mine. As the infamous Rodney King said: "Can't we all just get along?"