(This is part of my Book)
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| The Taganito Project involved JGC constructing an HPAL smelting plant for processing low-grade nickel ore into nickel metal |
I have read many social media posts and news feds about our struggles as a nation and as a people. We are wondering what is wrong with us as a people; what is happening with our government. It is reported that many of our people who go abroad are among the best and trusted workers and most successful in their fields of training. While at home in the Philippines they are longing for the same opportunities to be opened to them, but it is nowhere to be found.
My barber friend struggled to send his children to college. One of his daughters worked locally as a registered nurse in a government hospital. For several years she found no growth and progress in her married life. She decided to try her luck to apply for a nursing job in New Zealand. Her family borrowed substantial amount of money for the placement fee and other expenses. Her job was the same as her work in the Philippines. But in a short time she was able to pay her loan, bought a car and gave her poor parents the opportunity to take a vacation in New Zealand, a break not even in their dreams. Eventually she transferred to Australia and earns even more, supporting the needs of her parents and the college education of her niece and nephew. At the same time she replaced the nipa hut of her parents with a modest medium type house. She told me, if she had remained in the Philippines, she should not have been able to provide her own family and her extended families the provident life that they now enjoy.
My barber friend struggled to send his children to college. One of his daughters worked locally as a registered nurse in a government hospital. For several years she found no growth and progress in her married life. She decided to try her luck to apply for a nursing job in New Zealand. Her family borrowed substantial amount of money for the placement fee and other expenses. Her job was the same as her work in the Philippines. But in a short time she was able to pay her loan, bought a car and gave her poor parents the opportunity to take a vacation in New Zealand, a break not even in their dreams. Eventually she transferred to Australia and earns even more, supporting the needs of her parents and the college education of her niece and nephew. At the same time she replaced the nipa hut of her parents with a modest medium type house. She told me, if she had remained in the Philippines, she should not have been able to provide her own family and her extended families the provident life that they now enjoy.
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| Silangan Project Portal. (http://www.philexmining.com.ph/about-us/silangan) |
I was once assigned to conduct credit investigation on a young client for his car loan, a brand new Everest. He graduated from a local school in Surigao City for a three year course in Electronics. He first found a job in Manila and later applied for a job in Singapore. In a short time he was able to acquire a residential lot in their barrio where he built a loan free residential building. He also acquired farm lands. His car loan was fully paid long before the term expired. If he had remained working in the Philippines, he should not have been able to acquire these things at his young age. His only sacrifice is that he is far from his family.
I know of many local executives in government and banking institutions who could not even afford a second hand car, but only after they retired and received their lump sum benefits. Many high profile professionals---MBAs, Masters in Education, Doctors of Philosophy, and others, who worked for many years do not have that marks of abundance.
I know of many local executives in government and banking institutions who could not even afford a second hand car, but only after they retired and received their lump sum benefits. Many high profile professionals---MBAs, Masters in Education, Doctors of Philosophy, and others, who worked for many years do not have that marks of abundance.
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| The design of the proposed declaration of decline toward to Boyongan and Bayugo deposits. (http://www.philexmining.com.ph/about-us/silangan) |
We might ask why? What is the difference of a Filipino Nurse working in Australia or New Zealand and a Nurse working in the Philippines? What is the difference between a state college three-year courser working in Singapore and a Bank Manager in the Philippines? Why the stark difference in their ability to improve their standard of living?
Well, we might reason that their earnings had a multiplier effect when brought to the Philippines. But even if they have to stay in the country where they work, they still are living comfortably. These are proven by many Filipinos residing abroad. They are successful because they work hard knowing that what they earn will provide them more than enough. In the Philippines we earn less than enough.
My friend works full time in the church as Church Education System employee. He earns a modest salary, much higher than the local salary levels. His family lives in a well furnished apartment. He is provided with a car by the Church. Once he had the opportunity to have training in Utah, U.S.A. He met his very close Filipino friend. He was given a ride on his friend’s sports car. He found that his friend worked as a janitor in the Church office building, while proceeding with his college degree and providing for a small family. College is expensive is America and my friend thought that maybe his friend had taken an educational loan. But at least he proudly indicated that he is proud of his work as a janitor and comfortably affording a provident life for his family.
Our concern therefore is how can we as a government regulate and stipulate enough employment income for our workers to provide for their fundamental needs---food, clothing, shelter and medical needs and education. And how can we regulate the prices of these prime commodities. All the barriers I mentioned, except perhaps on political infidelity, have their common roots---unemployment, underemployment and high prices of prime commodities. These result to our people’s inability to rise above poverty. Thus they become easy recruits to insurgency, easily induced to immorality and in their ignorance they choose to be silent participants in our political calisthenics and easy victims of vote buying---the path to political infidelity. Only those who tried their luck in business did find greater success. But they remain to be the greatest minority.
Well, we might reason that their earnings had a multiplier effect when brought to the Philippines. But even if they have to stay in the country where they work, they still are living comfortably. These are proven by many Filipinos residing abroad. They are successful because they work hard knowing that what they earn will provide them more than enough. In the Philippines we earn less than enough.
My friend works full time in the church as Church Education System employee. He earns a modest salary, much higher than the local salary levels. His family lives in a well furnished apartment. He is provided with a car by the Church. Once he had the opportunity to have training in Utah, U.S.A. He met his very close Filipino friend. He was given a ride on his friend’s sports car. He found that his friend worked as a janitor in the Church office building, while proceeding with his college degree and providing for a small family. College is expensive is America and my friend thought that maybe his friend had taken an educational loan. But at least he proudly indicated that he is proud of his work as a janitor and comfortably affording a provident life for his family.
Our concern therefore is how can we as a government regulate and stipulate enough employment income for our workers to provide for their fundamental needs---food, clothing, shelter and medical needs and education. And how can we regulate the prices of these prime commodities. All the barriers I mentioned, except perhaps on political infidelity, have their common roots---unemployment, underemployment and high prices of prime commodities. These result to our people’s inability to rise above poverty. Thus they become easy recruits to insurgency, easily induced to immorality and in their ignorance they choose to be silent participants in our political calisthenics and easy victims of vote buying---the path to political infidelity. Only those who tried their luck in business did find greater success. But they remain to be the greatest minority.
We have so much wealth in store to help us, as a people and as a nation, to rise above our present economic ills. However, not much has been done to utilize the abundant treasures that are spread in our lands and kept beneath our soils. Responsible mining of these hidden immeasurable reserves and resources can be our best hope for economic recovery.
However, a great deal of secularization and our abundance of brainy fellows create diverse opinions and ideologies on matters affecting our country. The miners believed in the tremendous benefits of mining. The environmentalists decry mining as a destructive industry, unfriendly to environment. The unemployed and underemployed workers want mining industries to prevail for it provides higher salaries and sufficient income. The naysayers lined the streets crying foul over the possible destructive effects of mining. The journalists report every minute detail of disadvantages and drawbacks, but never the prospective high benefits. Even our laws seemed to have their own share of diversity. There are laws which favor mining and there are those which favor environmental protection, yet these laws are complementary. Many among the silent observers could only do nothing but scratch their heads.
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| Protest during Philex Mining Stockholder's meeting. (http://www.demotix.com) |
Sometimes our civility comes far from being civil. Every now and then we marched the streets complaining against mining companies and our government. We only look at the faults, but never appreciate the good. We even go against the requirements of the law, demanding for our absolute democratic freedom to do as we please, even to the extent of burning the equipment of mining companies worth billions of pesos. I once had a discussion with my son Robert about absolute freedom and limited freedom which was a subject in their class debate. He was for limited freedom, because of existing laws which prohibits one from doing a certain act. He explained that to go beyond the limits of the laws as an exercise of absolute freedom is to limit one’s freedom, because he will be subjected to punishment in violation of the law, which may even require the violator to go hiding or be incarcerated in jail. But to live within the limits of the laws is to have an out-and-out complete freedom to do that which is right. Freedom is not free for it has a price measured in terms of consequence. Civility is to be a participant in deeds that are right and to object the wrong in accord with the limits prescribed by our laws.
While I was yet an employee of the Philippine National Bank, I question the wisdom of many banks coming into Surigao City to do business. The MMIC-Surigao Nickel Refinery, which generated economic abundance in the City was already closed resulting to economic downtrend. As a banking and finance graduate I am aware of what it is that banks are after when they invest to establish a branch in a place. Yet I saw no better prospect that would provide future sound business for the banks in Surigao City, particularly with private banks.
Our agriculture could not even provide for the food needs of our city and province. While we are situated in the shorelines with several island components, our fishing does not warrant an industry and not even enough for local provisions. Tourism is never an equitable resource for employment then and even now.
While I was yet an employee of the Philippine National Bank, I question the wisdom of many banks coming into Surigao City to do business. The MMIC-Surigao Nickel Refinery, which generated economic abundance in the City was already closed resulting to economic downtrend. As a banking and finance graduate I am aware of what it is that banks are after when they invest to establish a branch in a place. Yet I saw no better prospect that would provide future sound business for the banks in Surigao City, particularly with private banks.
Our agriculture could not even provide for the food needs of our city and province. While we are situated in the shorelines with several island components, our fishing does not warrant an industry and not even enough for local provisions. Tourism is never an equitable resource for employment then and even now.
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| Protesters during the Philex Mining Stockholder's meeting http://www.demotix.com) |
The Diwata Mountains surround our place as to leave us only a small tract---a few plains, for us to plant staple crops not even enough to supply our local needs. However, beneath these mountain ranges are hidden since time immemorial, immeasurable treasures that can surely create our city and province into a very progressive economy. Banking researchers should admit that these are the prospects that they are looking forward to. They knew that the Mining industry will need billions of pesos in investments. It will produce incalculable revenues. It will provide good jobs for the people. Business activities will be intensified. And sure, the banking sector will be more than sustained in their operations. All these we are starting to experience now in Surigao City and Surigao del Norte. And if these economic activities continue uninterrupted, there will no longer be a need for our people to migrate to other areas or even abroad to find better employment.
While we have other resources from which we can hinge on to bolster our economy, mining is one of our best options to rise above our present economic struggles. I quote this report from Andrew James Masigan:
“Unknown to many, the Philippines possesses one of the world’s largest deposits of gold, silver, nickel and copper. A study commissioned by the World Bank estimates that mineral deposits in the Philippines amount to nearly $840 billion, based on 2010 prices. Put into context, $840 billion is enough to pay the country’s external debts 14 times over.
“Our mining industry is sorely underdeveloped, which is why we haven’t really benefitted from the God-given bounty of our land. Large-scale mining investors are waiting in the wings to help us extract our mineral deposits; unfortunately, the new Mining Law, which contains the working parameters of foreign miners, is still stewing in Congress. So for now, 70 percent of the miners that operate in the country are of the small-scale kind, particularly those that mine for gold.
“Despite having the third largest gold deposits in the world, the Philippines continues to lag behind in gold production. We rank 19th out of 100 gold-producing countries. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau reported that gold production even dropped by a massive 50 percent last year with an output of just 15.762 metric tons as compared to 31.120 metric tons in 2011. In contrast, Australia, a country with less gold deposits, had an output of 250 metric tons.” (source: PH is third in gold deposits worldwide—so where is it? by Andrew James Masigan
September 15, 2013http://www.mb.com.ph/ph-is-third-in-gold-deposits-worldwide-so-where-is-it/).
The Philippines has the third largest mineral deposit of nickel in the world. “New Caledonia contains 21% of the world’s nickel laterites, followed by Australia (20%), the Philippines (17%) and Indonesia (12%)” (source: http://www.geologyforinvestors.com/nickel-laterites/). It is also reported that “The Philippines is the fifth-richest country in the world in terms of mineral resources, according to Bulatlat. It also has the largest nickel reserves in the world…” (source: http://nickelinvestingnews.com/5850-nickel-philippines-indonesia-supply-demand-export-ban.html).
If only we have given more attention to these treasures which is our share of the earth’s riches which God so bountifully kept beneath our soils for us to utilize, we as a nation should have already advanced perhaps earlier than Australia. We should have been the economic tiger in Asia as prefigured and forecasted long before. Our people should have been saved from the ills of poverty and economic sufferings. We probably should have banished the forlorn sight of millions of the homeless and the slums from the sentimental portraits of our national history.
I was a young student in college when the MMIC-Surigao Nickel Project and Refinery was started early in the 1970s. It is one of the biggest nickel refineries in the world. I worked there as a security guard where I was assigned throughout the project area and witnessed how magnificent the giant refinery was as it stood a glorious economic provider for more or less 4,000 employees and their families, not to mention the economic boom that it provided the City and Province and the revenues and investment resources that it bestowed. I am a witness of the vibrant economic activities that it endowed the City of Surigao even in its early stages of construction. I was on guard when those sparkling nickel briquettes dropped from the large conveyors to the containers.
However, that billion pesos worth of investment was short-lived and the giant of a refinery turned to waste all because of our selfishness and greed. There had been several earlier attempts to rehabilitate the plant; in fact a high school classmate of mine who is a native of Surigao City and an Electrical consultant was hired to inspect the plant together with the investors and were sent together with other engineers to Australia to prepare the rehabilitation plan. But sad to say, for reasons unknown, the negotiations failed.
While we have other resources from which we can hinge on to bolster our economy, mining is one of our best options to rise above our present economic struggles. I quote this report from Andrew James Masigan:
“Unknown to many, the Philippines possesses one of the world’s largest deposits of gold, silver, nickel and copper. A study commissioned by the World Bank estimates that mineral deposits in the Philippines amount to nearly $840 billion, based on 2010 prices. Put into context, $840 billion is enough to pay the country’s external debts 14 times over.
“Our mining industry is sorely underdeveloped, which is why we haven’t really benefitted from the God-given bounty of our land. Large-scale mining investors are waiting in the wings to help us extract our mineral deposits; unfortunately, the new Mining Law, which contains the working parameters of foreign miners, is still stewing in Congress. So for now, 70 percent of the miners that operate in the country are of the small-scale kind, particularly those that mine for gold.
“Despite having the third largest gold deposits in the world, the Philippines continues to lag behind in gold production. We rank 19th out of 100 gold-producing countries. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau reported that gold production even dropped by a massive 50 percent last year with an output of just 15.762 metric tons as compared to 31.120 metric tons in 2011. In contrast, Australia, a country with less gold deposits, had an output of 250 metric tons.” (source: PH is third in gold deposits worldwide—so where is it? by Andrew James Masigan
September 15, 2013http://www.mb.com.ph/ph-is-third-in-gold-deposits-worldwide-so-where-is-it/).
The Philippines has the third largest mineral deposit of nickel in the world. “New Caledonia contains 21% of the world’s nickel laterites, followed by Australia (20%), the Philippines (17%) and Indonesia (12%)” (source: http://www.geologyforinvestors.com/nickel-laterites/). It is also reported that “The Philippines is the fifth-richest country in the world in terms of mineral resources, according to Bulatlat. It also has the largest nickel reserves in the world…” (source: http://nickelinvestingnews.com/5850-nickel-philippines-indonesia-supply-demand-export-ban.html).
If only we have given more attention to these treasures which is our share of the earth’s riches which God so bountifully kept beneath our soils for us to utilize, we as a nation should have already advanced perhaps earlier than Australia. We should have been the economic tiger in Asia as prefigured and forecasted long before. Our people should have been saved from the ills of poverty and economic sufferings. We probably should have banished the forlorn sight of millions of the homeless and the slums from the sentimental portraits of our national history.
I was a young student in college when the MMIC-Surigao Nickel Project and Refinery was started early in the 1970s. It is one of the biggest nickel refineries in the world. I worked there as a security guard where I was assigned throughout the project area and witnessed how magnificent the giant refinery was as it stood a glorious economic provider for more or less 4,000 employees and their families, not to mention the economic boom that it provided the City and Province and the revenues and investment resources that it bestowed. I am a witness of the vibrant economic activities that it endowed the City of Surigao even in its early stages of construction. I was on guard when those sparkling nickel briquettes dropped from the large conveyors to the containers.
However, that billion pesos worth of investment was short-lived and the giant of a refinery turned to waste all because of our selfishness and greed. There had been several earlier attempts to rehabilitate the plant; in fact a high school classmate of mine who is a native of Surigao City and an Electrical consultant was hired to inspect the plant together with the investors and were sent together with other engineers to Australia to prepare the rehabilitation plan. But sad to say, for reasons unknown, the negotiations failed.
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| Australia's biggest iron ore mine (http://www.mining.com) |
Perhaps from our economic window we need to look at what mining has done to Australia. They had been developing their mining industry very long before with consistency. They were not bothered by the ever changing demands of raw materials that come from their mining industry. Then when the demand significantly increased, they were ready to supply. Recently it was reported:
“Australia’s mining sector has been hailed as a saviour to the economy, protecting it from the effects of the severe economic downturns experienced in the USA, Europe and other countries during and after the global financial crisis of 2007-08.
“There is no doubt that the minerals and energy boom of the 2000s was responsible for much of the growth in commodity export earnings. It also protected economic growth rates and, to some extent, jobs during this time. The mining boom was in large part due to the significant increase in demand for raw materials and energy by China and India during their very rapid economic growth over the past decade.
“The mining sector currently contributes around 8.5% to Australia’s GDP (total output), and employs around 2% of the workforce (about 220,000 people).
“The mining sector’s biggest impact is on exports - in recent years it has made up over 50% of Australia’s total export earnings. The effect of the mining boom on exports has been huge – for example, between 2000 and 2010, the value of exports from mining rose by over 120%, from $63 billion to $139 billion.
“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Industry and Science, earnings from minerals and energy exports reached $195 billion last year.” (Australia’s ‘five pillar economy’: mining May 1, 2015 6.46am AEST http://theconversation.com/australias-five-pillar-economy-mining-40701).
“Mining contributes about 5.6% of Australia's Gross Domestic Product….Of the developed countries, perhaps only in Canada and Norway does mining play as significant a part in the economy; for comparison, in Canada mining represents about 3.6% of the Canadian economy and 32% of exports, and in Norway mining, dominated by petroleum, represents about 19% of GDP and 46% of exports. By comparison, in the United States mining represents only about 1.6% of GDP.” (Mining in Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Australia).
“Australia’s mining sector has been hailed as a saviour to the economy, protecting it from the effects of the severe economic downturns experienced in the USA, Europe and other countries during and after the global financial crisis of 2007-08.
“There is no doubt that the minerals and energy boom of the 2000s was responsible for much of the growth in commodity export earnings. It also protected economic growth rates and, to some extent, jobs during this time. The mining boom was in large part due to the significant increase in demand for raw materials and energy by China and India during their very rapid economic growth over the past decade.
“The mining sector currently contributes around 8.5% to Australia’s GDP (total output), and employs around 2% of the workforce (about 220,000 people).
“The mining sector’s biggest impact is on exports - in recent years it has made up over 50% of Australia’s total export earnings. The effect of the mining boom on exports has been huge – for example, between 2000 and 2010, the value of exports from mining rose by over 120%, from $63 billion to $139 billion.
“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Industry and Science, earnings from minerals and energy exports reached $195 billion last year.” (Australia’s ‘five pillar economy’: mining May 1, 2015 6.46am AEST http://theconversation.com/australias-five-pillar-economy-mining-40701).
“Mining contributes about 5.6% of Australia's Gross Domestic Product….Of the developed countries, perhaps only in Canada and Norway does mining play as significant a part in the economy; for comparison, in Canada mining represents about 3.6% of the Canadian economy and 32% of exports, and in Norway mining, dominated by petroleum, represents about 19% of GDP and 46% of exports. By comparison, in the United States mining represents only about 1.6% of GDP.” (Mining in Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Australia).
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| Jubilee Operations # 1, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, 2007 http://www.sbs.com.au/dirtybusiness/ |
I am not an economist nor am I an expert mining engineer. I am just one of those wondering why we as a nation---a land blessed with so much mineral abundance, could not rise above our economic struggles and be like South Africa, Russia, Australia, Ukraine, Guinea, Canada and Norway. We have started long before and we were lost because we have never established a definite economic direction, a significant point of destination and purpose. Hence, we walk in circles; in every change of administration we find ourselves again back to where we began. We are no better than those men and women portrayed in a psychological experiment:
“Have you ever heard the old saying that people who get lost tend to walk in circles?
“Jan L. Souman, a German psychologist, wanted to determine scientifically if this was true. He took participants of an experiment to a large forest area and to the Sahara desert and used a global positioning system to track where they went. They had no compass or any other device. Instructions to them were simple: walk in a straight line in the direction indicated.
“Dr. Souman later described what happened. “[Some] of them walked on a cloudy day, with the sun hidden behind the clouds [and with no reference points in view]. … [They] all walked in circles, with [several] of them repeatedly crossing their own path without noticing it.” Other participants walked while the sun was shining, with faraway reference points in view. “These … followed an almost perfectly straight course.”
“This study has been repeated by others with different methodologies. All returned similar results.
“Without visible landmarks, human beings tend to walk in circles.” (FIRST PRESIDENCY MESSAGE June 2013, Walking in Circles By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency See Jan L. Souman and others, “Walking Straight into Circles,” Current Biology vol. 19 (Sept. 29, 2009), 1538–42).
Our country, divided into miniscule islands and islets, is just a tiny part of an immense gigantic world. To insist on protecting our environment as against utilizing the vast resources that our most generous God had planted deep into our soils as a means to provide the best opportunities needed by our ever growing population of poverty stricken people, is to me a show of hypocrisy. How can we be so naive as to be concerned of the welfare of the people around the world when we don’t even have empathy and compassion on the people in our backyard by refusing to utilize the abundant mineral resources which God blessed our land? Why do we need to worry about the environmental problem of the whole wide world, when our very own small backyard is filled with hungering people? While we wanted the world to know that we are one of the willing contributors to the environmental protection of our planet earth, we need first to resolve or curve if not totally sweep out and clean our land with poverty. In the real sense, our inputs may not even be felt. The trees that we may have planted, may not even cover the vast mineral lands which were developed by the giant countries such as Russia, Australia, Canada, South Africa and others. While our people are suffering in poverty amidst the richness of our mineral lands, these giants of countries are enjoying the abundant economic life that the same mineral resources afford. We are a hungry and starving people standing on and surrounded in perfect view of the richness and blessed abundance of our land.
“Have you ever heard the old saying that people who get lost tend to walk in circles?
“Jan L. Souman, a German psychologist, wanted to determine scientifically if this was true. He took participants of an experiment to a large forest area and to the Sahara desert and used a global positioning system to track where they went. They had no compass or any other device. Instructions to them were simple: walk in a straight line in the direction indicated.
“Dr. Souman later described what happened. “[Some] of them walked on a cloudy day, with the sun hidden behind the clouds [and with no reference points in view]. … [They] all walked in circles, with [several] of them repeatedly crossing their own path without noticing it.” Other participants walked while the sun was shining, with faraway reference points in view. “These … followed an almost perfectly straight course.”
“This study has been repeated by others with different methodologies. All returned similar results.
“Without visible landmarks, human beings tend to walk in circles.” (FIRST PRESIDENCY MESSAGE June 2013, Walking in Circles By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency See Jan L. Souman and others, “Walking Straight into Circles,” Current Biology vol. 19 (Sept. 29, 2009), 1538–42).
Our country, divided into miniscule islands and islets, is just a tiny part of an immense gigantic world. To insist on protecting our environment as against utilizing the vast resources that our most generous God had planted deep into our soils as a means to provide the best opportunities needed by our ever growing population of poverty stricken people, is to me a show of hypocrisy. How can we be so naive as to be concerned of the welfare of the people around the world when we don’t even have empathy and compassion on the people in our backyard by refusing to utilize the abundant mineral resources which God blessed our land? Why do we need to worry about the environmental problem of the whole wide world, when our very own small backyard is filled with hungering people? While we wanted the world to know that we are one of the willing contributors to the environmental protection of our planet earth, we need first to resolve or curve if not totally sweep out and clean our land with poverty. In the real sense, our inputs may not even be felt. The trees that we may have planted, may not even cover the vast mineral lands which were developed by the giant countries such as Russia, Australia, Canada, South Africa and others. While our people are suffering in poverty amidst the richness of our mineral lands, these giants of countries are enjoying the abundant economic life that the same mineral resources afford. We are a hungry and starving people standing on and surrounded in perfect view of the richness and blessed abundance of our land.
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| The chocolate hills of the Philippines |
Don’t get me wrong, however, I still believe in the preservation of our environment. Yet, no matter our efforts, it is impossible for us to suppress the earth’s evolution as it did before. I do believe without equivocation “…that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory” (Articles of Faith 1:10). John also testified of the earth’s future: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea” (Revelations 21:1).
We therefore need to utilize these vast and incalculable resources of which our land is blessed while we still need them for our survival. We have laws enough to protect our environment while unearthing those hidden bounteous treasures. We have sufficient laws for the mining sector to follow so as not to viciously spoil and destroy our ecosystem. Let these laws awaken from their graves as zombies to propel the implementing agencies to strictly execute the provisions as being intelligently enacted.
As in the marathon, we have learned so much from our previous races and at this time we have started it right under President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s administration. We are now on the way to a glorious finish. Visible economic landmarks are now in place. It is true that we still have so much to do, but we have more time, for the race is still a long way to go. However, rather than begin again, let us instead press on and hold fast to what have been significantly accomplished. The route may still be difficult, steep and uphill, but we have to follow through for that is the only way to victory.
We therefore need to utilize these vast and incalculable resources of which our land is blessed while we still need them for our survival. We have laws enough to protect our environment while unearthing those hidden bounteous treasures. We have sufficient laws for the mining sector to follow so as not to viciously spoil and destroy our ecosystem. Let these laws awaken from their graves as zombies to propel the implementing agencies to strictly execute the provisions as being intelligently enacted.
As in the marathon, we have learned so much from our previous races and at this time we have started it right under President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s administration. We are now on the way to a glorious finish. Visible economic landmarks are now in place. It is true that we still have so much to do, but we have more time, for the race is still a long way to go. However, rather than begin again, let us instead press on and hold fast to what have been significantly accomplished. The route may still be difficult, steep and uphill, but we have to follow through for that is the only way to victory.
great article sir, pesmission to share your views in some of the mining forums in social network sir?
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