GOTCHA
By Jarius Bondoc
The Philippine Star
By Jarius Bondoc
The Philippine Star
80 mainland Chinese held by police for illegal mining in Zambales
Newsflash: The creeping Chinese invasion of Zambales mainland has been stopped — for now.
The Supreme Court yesterday issued a temporary environment protection order (TEPO) against 94 “small-scale mines” that extract nickel in Zambales. Among the “small” mines are at least five fronts of giant nickel miners from China (see Gotcha, 24 July 2013). Allegedly operating outside the allowable area, the mines are illegal, pollutive, unregulated, untaxed, and destabilizing the economy.
The SC en banc acted on a petition of ten Masinloc townsmen for a TEPO against Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane, the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board, and one Camilo Esico.
Covered by the TEPO are respondents Environment and Natural Resources Sec. Ramon Paje, his Mines and Geosciences Bureau, the Dept. of Interior and Local Government, and the Philippine National Police.
In a 35-page petition filed July 17, the townsfolk decried Ebdane’s granting of small-scale mining permits (SSMPs) outside the officially designated “minahang bayan.” As example, they cited the ones given to Esico in 2010, good for two years, and again in 2012, valid till 2014.
Provincial capitols may issue SSMPs under the People’s Small-Scale Mining Act of 1991. But these are supposed to be within the zone for subsistence miners, who employ only brawn, picks, and shovels.
The Zambales nickel miners in Masinloc and Sta. Cruz towns use sophisticated excavators, crushers, loaders, and explosives. Thousands of dump trucks laden with ore line up the national highway and side roads.
The five Chinese fronts have built a common wharf in Sta. Cruz, betraying the fact that they are one operation. Their mother companies are Jiangxi Rare Earth & Metals Tungsten Group, Wei-Wei Group, and Nihao Mineral Resources Inc. All tainted by bribery reports, they set up the five “small mines” through Filipino dummies.
Other “small” miners deliver ore to the Chinese-built pier, from which sail off four Chinese bulk carriers a week. Processed in China, the nickel is used for hi-tech weaponry and surveillance systems mobilized to sabotage the Philippine military and economy into submission. The Philippines is China’s top supplier of nickel.
Mining pollution of the rivers and seas are forcing fishermen from Masinloc, Sta. Cruz, and Infanta, Pangasinan, to sail farther out to sea. But when they enter the vicinity of the Bajo de Masinloc shoal, Chinese warships shell them back to shore.
China in 2012 grabbed the shoal, also called Panatag, 124 miles west of Zambales. It is well within the Philippines 200-mile exclusive economic zone, but 800 miles from the nearest Chinese coast. Chinese military vessels escort fish poachers from Hainan province, and forbid Filipinos from entering the traditional fishing grounds. China’s creeping invasion of Zambales mainland for nickel began eight years earlier, but worsened only recently.
Aside from Esico’s, Ebdane issued 93 other SSMPs in just one day, on July 12, 2011, the petitioners revealed. He invoked Presidential Decree 1899, but the townsmen said the People’s Small-Scale Mining already had repealed it. But the DENR issued a memo allowing the application of both the Presidential Decree and superseding Republic Act. So the petitioners included Paje as answerable.
Residents of Masinloc-Sta. Cruz-Infanta suffer the worst air pollution in the country due to mining waste, explosives, ore dust, and dump truck emissions. Having the highest morbidity incidence of acute respiratory infections, they have taken to calling the destructive Chinese miners’ abettors “modern-day Makapili” collaborators.
The petitioners said that national and provincial environment officials, and policemen see Esico openly using heavy equipment for his “small-scale” mine. The policemen even escort the trucks and guard the mine gates.
The MGB reports 291 SSMPs to have been issued as of last April 12. Ninety-nine of these are in Zambales alone.
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CORRECTION: Today’s Global Protest Action against China’s invasion of Panatag Shoal will be held in front of the Chinese consulate, World Center, 330 Gil Puyat (Buendia) Avenue, Makati, not the embassy on Roxas Boulevard. Same time: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wear blue.
Other Chinese embassies and consulates worldwide will be picketed on this Global Day of Protest.
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The Social Security System is a private mutual provident fund of its members. Since it is losing and can’t last for long, President Noynoy Aquino wants to enlarge SSS mandatory contributions by 0.6 percent. Employers and employees are to equally share the increase.
Sounds logical? Not if we look at the other side of the story.
The government forcibly administers the SSS for the members. The President appoints the head and board of trustees without membership consultation. The appointees in turn hire and direct the officers, again sans membership voice. The past four decades saw a train of crooked, inept appointees who stole from or misspent the SSS fund. They took kickbacks from multibillion-peso stock investments, corporate loans, and office purchases. They raised the officers’ perks and condoned members’ arrears to cover their tracks. No wonder the SSS is going bankrupt.
Given that truth, isn’t it just for the government, not the innocent members, to bail out the SSS? Also, for the thieves to be jailed and made to return their loot? To some extent, taxes that will be used to rescue the SSS will come from its very 23 million members, majority of the country’s work force. But since the SSS woes are basically the government’s fault, the bailout can be deducted from the congressional pork, till the fund reverts to “perpetuity” of 70 years.
The planned 0.6-percent contribution hike is just for starters. The present SSS contribution rate is 10.6 percent of a workman’s salary (7.2 from the employer, 3.4 from the employee). If no member benefit is added in the interim, the 0.6-percent extra will extend the SSS’ lifespan till 2047. Trustees estimate a total contribution hike of 14.1 percent, while keeping benefits at present levels, to give the SSS a 70-year spread, the international standard. For members to enjoy more benefits, payments must reach about 21 percent, same as the Government Service Insurance System, or Turkey and Malaysia.
The President can try to sell that idea to SSS members, but with a promise to punish past crooks and thwart future ones.
* * *
Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).
Gotcha archives on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jarius-Bondoc/1376602159218459, or The STAR website http://www.philstar.com/author/Jarius%20Bondoc/GOTCHA
E-mail: jariusbondoc@gmail.com
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RELATED STORY:
Chinese have ‘invaded’ Zambales mainland too
GOTCHA
By Jarius Bondoc
The Philippine Star
By Jarius Bondoc
The Philippine Star
It’s not only Bajo de Masinloc (Panatag/Scarborough Shoal) that the Chinese have occupied. They also have grabbed a slice of mainland Zambales, 108 kilometers east. There Chinese miners rule, stealing nickel ore the same way they poach fish in the shoal. Bribed local officials abet them like modern-day Makapili collaborators.
In the West Philippine Sea-side Sta. Cruz municipality, Zambales, operate three Chinese conglomerates: Jiangxi Rare Earth & Metals Tungsten Group, Wei-Wei Group, and Nihao Mineral Resources Inc. Through Filipino dummies they have set up five supposed “minahang bayan (small-scale mines).” The five load ore and unload equipment in one common pier, betraying the fact that they actually are one.
The five machinate under cover of the People’s Small-Scale Mining Act of 1991. Such wee mines are for subsistence quarrymen who use only brawn, mini-crushers, hand picks, and shovels. Anything but puny, the five Chinese fronts use sophisticated excavators, drills, crushers, and explosives. With the heavy ordnance, they level mountains for tens of thousands of tons of nickel ore a day. (A small-scale mine is limited to only 50,000 tons in its lifetime.)
Residents of Sta. Cruz cry that the Chinese mines have denuded the forest watersheds, and poisoned farmlands, rivers, sea, and air. Townsfolk of adjacent Masinloc, Zambales, and Infanta, Pangasinan, also suffer. Muddied coastal waters drive small fishermen farther out to sea. But in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc, Chinese warships shell them back to shore.
The Philippines is now China’s main source of nickel. The five Chinese mines in Sta. Cruz contribute a sizeable portion. Although no exact figures can be obtained – small-scale mines operate under local government licenses, beyond the scope of the Mines & Geosciences Bureau – locals observe at the common wharf the departure of four ore-laden Chinese bulk carriers per week. China processes the nickel into hi-tech weapons and surveillance systems – to sabotage the Philippine military and economy into submission.
The Sta. Cruz-Masinloc-Infanta highway is called the “dump truck capital of the Philippines.” Thousands of trucks’ tailpipe emissions and ore-load dust pollute the air to alarming levels. Field monitors of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources reported on Nov. 15, 16, and 27, 2012, suspended particulates of 208, 727, and 824 micrograms per cubic meter, respectively, on the highway. Maximum tolerable is 90.
So in the barrios of Sta. Cruz, residents suffer acute respiratory infections – their top cause of morbidity. From 2001 to 2011, rural health workers noted an increasing incidence of 4,500 to 8,500 new cases per 100,000-population per year. Yet the Chinese mines have not improved local household incomes. (The entire mining industry has the highest poverty incidence.)
Health and environment ruin are accompanied by economic and political decay. By disguising as small-scale mines, the five Chinese thieves are able to skirt the stringent rules on the big ones. Provincial business permits can be obtained within days for as low as P10,000, and environmental clearances for P15,000, unlike the years-long wait for biggies to be scrutinized. Because virtually unregulated, the five Chinese mines pay no taxes, duties, fees, or royalties – for at least the sickened townsfolk’s medical expenses. Provincial officials justify their localized exactions by pointing out that local governments do not get shares of central government revenues from big miners. (In 2011 the DENR reported that three million tons of Philippine mineral ores that were processed in China were unaccounted for by trade and Customs authorities.)
The mayors of Sta. Cruz, Masinloc, and Infanta profess to oppose the Chinese mines. That the latter continue to operate raises suspicion that the provincial capitols of Zambales and Pangasinan go over the mayors’ heads and deal directly with pliant barangay officials. Either that or somebody’s lying. The mayor of Infanta was murdered last December.
Bribery stories taint the Chinese mines. How they get away with their destructive ways is a mystery. The Wei-Wei Group entered Botolan, Zambales, in 2005 via a rushed approval during the Arroyo tenure. It came right after then-President Gloria Arroyo allowed China illegally to explore Philippine waters, under a secret, treasonous Joint Seismic Marine Understanding. Wei-Wei later barged into Sta. Cruz-Masinloc-Infanta.
The Jiangxi Group joined in partnership with a Nihao Minerals subsidiary. Officers of Nihao and affiliate Geograce Resources Inc. were involved in the illegal grant to ZTE International Corp. in 2005 of mining rights in the gold rush area of Mount Diwalwal, Compostela Valley.
* * *
Worldwide on Wednesday, July 24, there will be demonstrations in front of Chinese embassies to protest the bully incursions in Philippine waters. In Manila, the Global Protest Action will be held 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Chinese embassy on Roxas Boulevard.
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Eagerly awaited is the Supreme Court ruling for or against the Mining Act of 1995. This is on the separate petitions to declare unconstitutional the provisos on the mineral production sharing agreements and financial-technical assistance agreements. Too, to void all existing MPSAs and FTAAs signed by the government.
The Court twice had declared the law unconstitutional, then reversed itself and upheld the provisions in 2006. Miners are confident of a new ruling in their favor, because of the government’s need to entice job-creating investments, mostly from abroad. Environmentalists and economic nationalists foresee otherwise, citing public awareness of the meager state revenues from the extraction of minerals. A congressman aligned with the latter has said, however, that they face an uphill battle because their side would require the Court to flip-flop yet once more.
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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).
Gotcha archives: on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jarius-Bondoc/1376602159218459, or The STAR website http://www.philstar.com/author/Jarius%20Bondoc/GOTCHA
E-mail: jariusbondoc@gmail.com
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