The planned closure of 23 mines by the Department of Environment & Natural Resources has generated objections from mining companies.
The Secretary of Finance estimated (Feb. 8, Philippine Daily Inquirer) that the closure will cost the government P654 million in taxes.
What surprises me is that he failed to compute the cost to the environment.
This cost to the environment, including its impact on the resources that are used by the people, should be estimated to be fair to the DENR.
Degradation of the environment is visible to any one in many mining areas. What many people fail to understand is that once the environment is degraded, it will take decades, even centuries, to recover and become functional and productive again.
Two examples in my experience come to mind. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Pagatban River in southern Negros Oriental lost its biodiversity when its lower reaches were virtually converted to mud.
I have a picture of my youngest son showing the muddy substrate up to his waist. The mine tailings did not only damage the river but also killed the productive coral reef some few hundred meters from the river mouth.
Today, this reef no longer exists, and people have lost the site as fishing area for small-scale fishermen. The river has recovered slowly but some important fish species are gone.
The second example is the mining operation in Sipalay, Negros Occidental. Due to negligence of the mining company, its tailings pond overflowed, and damaged several hectares of productive rice fields.
It is important that in assessing mining operations, the important values of the environment must be taken into consideration, and not only the financial aspects of mining operations.
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Author’s email: suakcrem@yahoo.com
