Editorial: Are we willing to pay the price?

Sunstar Davao

MINDANAO Power Alliance (MPA) and Mindanao Business Council (MBC) chair Vicente Lao in last Monday's Kapehan sa SM said the mining industry will be needing around 1,000 megawatts of power by 2015, thus in addition to the projected increase of demand of 500 megawatts for other sectors, including the commercial sector that is booming in Mindanao, the island stands to face a shortage of 1,500 megawatts.

Whoever said Mindanao wanted mining anyway? For years on end, the Mindanao people have been standing up against mining. The long struggle against the incursion of these giant extractive industries has marked the history of the people of Surigao and Zamboanga.

But what has the National Government done? It instead took on the cudgels for the industry, named this as the sector that will jumpstart development and place the country among the fast developing countries and welcomed just about every foreign mining company during President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's nine-year term.

Now, with Environment Secretary Ramon Paje on the helm, a known mining industry supporter, the ban on open pit mining in South Cotabato is expected to be overturned.

On the sides, MBC is saying it is supporting Aboitiz Power's 200 megawatt coal-fired plant in Davao City because it will promise excess power for the city, which will be of great advantage. It will draw in investments as the biggest turn-off to investments is inadequate if not unreliable power source.

"A problem for Mindanao has always been that we cannot offer manufacturing companies to establish here because we cannot offer them power," he said. And we say, no. Historically, Mindanao has had the power advantage because it was mainly hydroelectric plus a smattering of geothermal power. It had excess power for so long, until all these cities have started to become highly urbanized, business has started to boom, and giant malls have joined the fray. But while commerce poured in, manufacturing did not. But while Mindanao has had the power advantage in the 1970 to 1980s, government no longer invested in any such major undertaking to provide power after that. Nada.

Looking back at how it was, commerce has boomed long before power demand has nearly equaled supply. But not much manufacturing has taken root. Mindanao, after all, is bringing in the big dollars from agricultural produce and products, who needs labor-intensive, strike-friendly factories?

Looking back and even at present, Mindanao's problem has always been because it is named Mindanao. Davao City still scares a lot of foreigners because it's in Mindanao. General Santos City cannot bring in all the investors because it's in Mindanao. Same with Cagayan de Oro City, and Iligan City, and Kidapawan City, and all other cities in Mindanao.

Looking back too, government no longer invested in the power sector after the Agus power plants more than two decades ago. These two facts tell us that, no, it was not because we couldn't offer power to manufacturers. They were simply not interested to locate here. Why? If we go back just a decade ago, the real problem was shipping rate. Not power. At least that's what the business sector were saying. Somebody is telling us a different tale.

In the same forum, Lao said, "In every industry there is collateral damage. The proposed clean coal plant would still have carbon footprint but this is minimized as it would be using advanced technology. The benefit it would mean for the city however is very big. This would advance the state of things. We support Aboitiz' plan."

Frightening.

Here he is saying that Mindanao faces a 1,500 megawatt power shortage by 2015 because the unwanted mining companies will be needing 1,000 megawatts of power that is 66.6 percent of the total shortage. And here he is saying too that the coal-fired power plant, which some sectors oppose, will indeed be causing collateral damage.

For the mining industry that the National Government has rammed down our collective throats, the collateral damage is a shortage of power that is 200% more than the projected shortage due to regular growth of population and industries. For the big mining companies, the collateral damage will be collected from people and their small businesses and livelihood will have to suffer the looming shortage, and yes, the looming environmental damage as well.

Now, who's going to be charged for the collateral damage of a coal-fired power plant? If we go by what history is telling us, it's the people. Are we willing to pay?

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on November 10, 2010.