Marcopper

Our group reported in class the Marcopper case. As a background of the case, “the Marcopper Mining Disaster occurred on March 24, 1996 on the Philippine island of Marinduque, a province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region in Luzon. It remains one of the largest mining disasters in Philippine history. A fracture in the drainage tunnel of a large pit containing leftover mine tailings led to a discharge of toxic mine waste into the Makulapnit-Boac river system and caused flash floods in areas along the river. One village, Barangay Hinapulan, was buried in six feet of muddy floodwater, causing the displacement of 400 families. Twenty other villages had to be evacuated. Drinking water was contaminated killing fish and freshwater shrimp. Large animals such as cows, pigs and sheep were overcome and killed. The flooding caused the destruction of crops and irrigation channels. Following the disaster, the Boac River was declared unusable.”

(www. /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcopper_mining_disaster)

As an ethical issue, our group stated that “What can the government do to address the current environmental and economic issues of the mining industry?”, considering the fact that the mining industry is often accused of not bringing its promised benefits to the host communities.

The group then presented the following alternative courses of actions:

1.    Suspend the grant pending the review of the Mining Law

2.    Continue the mining industry and ensure that an environmental management plan would be integrated into the socio-economic development of the host communities; and

3.    Shut down all mining operations in the country

The group recommended that ACA number 2 was the best alternative.

However, upon subsequent reflection, I realize some of the errors in our analysis of the case, which was also pointed out by our professor. One is which is that these ACAs are not equal in weight; our group in its eagerness to ensure a “win-win” recommendation, failed to realize that the ACAs are not mutually exclusive. Another is that we should have considered the timeline of the case when we were developing our SWOT analysis.

Mea culpa.

As a lesson learned from this case, the laws enabling the mining industry and protecting the environment are already in place, there should have been stricter implementation of its policies and stronger enforcement by the responsible agencies. Let me end by quoting  Manny Pangilinan in his speech during a forum in Makati, “mining is not the enemy, poverty is.”