Higher tax on mines—P-Noy, House miss point

This is in reaction to the news story “House to pass higher tax on mines” (Inquirer, 7/11/12).

President Aquino and our Congress still do not seem to get it into their heads that the Filipino people have awakened and know they’ve been shortchanged by the foreign mining corporations. In this fraud, these miners have connived with our political leaders, who have sworn to protect the Filipino people’s interests. Even with the advent of Executive Order 79 and House Alternative Minerals Management bill that seek a 10-percent excise tax and another 10-percent royalty for indigenous peoples, the Filipino people know that these pieces of legislation only protect the foreign miners’ interests, not theirs.

The 80 percent of extracted minerals that remain, after deducting the 10-percent excise tax and the 0-percent royalty, belong to the Filipino people, still. What monetary consideration or value in return has these foreign miners paid in exchange for these valuable minerals which the Filipino people own? Nothing. . .  not a cent! In terms of US dollars, these extracted minerals have amounted to trillions that should have gone to the Filipino people’s pocket to uplift their standard of living and to feed their hungry children. But all these trillions of dollars have fraudulently gone to the pockets of the foreign miners instead.

The following analogy will show the miners’ fraud. In a sale of a Porsche, the “capital gains tax” would be likened to the 10-percent “excise tax” in mining; the “broker’s commission” would be likened to the 10-percent royalty. So if the owner sells his Porsche, the buyer must pay the price of the Porsche, deducting therefrom the tax and commission. If the price is not paid, but the buyer takes the Porsche away just the same, he commits the crime of theft. So it is with the foreign miners, if they take away our minerals without paying us, they also commit the crime of theft. They must be jailed for stealing. They have been so far successful in doing it in connivance with our elected leaders.

These miners, after extracting our minerals in hundreds of tons, leave our rivers poisoned with mercury and chemicals used in mining. Our mountains and forests are permanently destroyed. The miners do not even take steps to rehabilitate what they ruin. The Philippine government has to loan millions of dollars from the World Bank or International Monetary Fund for the rehabilitation. We have to pay the huge loans with our own money for the irresponsible mining of these fraudsters. The people living near the mining areas are usually stricken with diseases, having been exposed to the toxic mining chemicals and wastes. What glimmer of hope are they talking about? Stop stealing what is ours!

—DENNIS ROAN,

[email protected]