By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE on
February 24, 2017
After two decades as a
yoga missionary, Environment Secretary Regina Lopez is unleashing her inner
rage on the mining industry while aiming for Bhutan-style gross national happiness.
Lopez has in recent
months moved global commodity markets with a campaign to close roughly
two-thirds of the existing mines in the Philippines, which is the world’s
biggest supplier of nickel ore and a major source of copper.
For the 63-year-old,
her sudden elevation by President Rodrigo Duterte to government last year after
a lifetime of spiritual and environmental pursuits has presented an unexpected
chance to bring about radical change in society.
“This is a golden
opportunity to do the right thing,” Lopez said in an interview.
“Not everyone has the
guts and the wherewithal to stand on big business’s toes. Right now I have that
platform.”
Lopez casts mining in a
sinister light, accusing powerful business figures and politicians involved in
the industry of corruption and rapaciousness.
She insists mining is
destroying the Southeast Asian archipelago’s ecosystem, and that the natural
resources on offer can be used in much more sustainable ways.
“We have 7,000 islands
and if we rape the islands… and 95 percent of the wealth goes out of those
islands, we will never see the light of day,” Lopez said.
Lopez has ordered the
closure or suspension of 28 mines which, if implemented, would leave just 12 in
operation. She has also recommended the contracts of 75 planned mines be
cancelled to protect watersheds.
Fightback
Mining Inc is fighting
back, with a public relations blitz insisting it is a law-abiding industry that
generates billions of dollars for the economy and directly supports 1.2 million
people.
It has appealed to
Duterte, who has spoken fiercely against the industry but nevertheless also has
many pro-mining figures in his cabinet, to over-rule Lopez.
It is also lobbying for
a congressional committee to reject her nomination as environment secretary
when it conducts a confirmation hearing next month.
“This is the first time
we have opposed an appointee of the president,” Chamber of Mines of the
Philippines vice president Ronald Recidoro said.
“We’ve had to because
our existence is on the line. If she is confirmed the mining industry is
finished, we are done.”
If Lopez survives as
Environment secretary and gets to serve her full six-year term, she has much
bigger plans for remodelling the Philippine economy — and she is taking
inspiration from the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan.
The Buddhist kingdom
famously pursues an economic development model of “Gross National Happiness,”
which aims to balance spiritual and material wealth while taking into account
the value of the environment and culture.
“I love the Bhutan
model,” Lopez said.
“They know if they kill
their air, they kill their water, they will never ever be happy. And I find
that quite enlightened.”
Lopez dreams of a
Philippines in which its rich biodiversity is capitalized on.
“We have barely begun
to scratch the surface of what our country can offer the world,” she said,
citing sea sponges, shells and fruit she claimed could cure cancers.
“And the exciting thing
is biodiversity is endemic. It is specific and exclusive to the Philippines.
That sounds like a really good business deal.”
‘Path of Bliss’
Lopez has walked an
unlikely path to becoming one of the most powerful women in the Philippines.
She belongs to one of the wealthiest families in the country.
She belongs to one of the wealthiest families in the country.
But Lopez exchanged a
life of luxury as a young lady for one as a yoga missionary with a spiritual
organization founded in India called Ananda Marga, or Path of Bliss.
Lopez spent two decades
in Africa, India and Portugal promoting yoga and helping the underprivileged,
before returning to the Philippines to raise two children.
Back home Lopez earned
a reputation as a passionate advocate for the environment, most notably with
the charitable arm of her family’s ABS-CBN media empire.
In his inaugural state
of the nation address, Duterte described Lopez as a “crusader.”
“We share the same paradigm: The interest of the country must come first,” he said.
“We share the same paradigm: The interest of the country must come first,” he said.
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