One can only hope Gina Lopez has taken to heart the well-known phrase of the title, the conclusion of which says “but words will never harm me.” as her one-woman crusade against miners of precious metals brings criticism not only from the mining companies themselves who have seen contracts transformed into worthless pieces of paper overnight but also from mine workers and communities who will see their incomes slashed with no prospect of a viable replacement any time soon.
No such furor, as yet, from those whose mines seek not metals but cement and aggregates, simply because Ms Lopez, so far, does not seem have them in her sights.
Perhaps Ms Lopez is testing the water with metal miners to gauge what kind of backwash she is likely to experience before moving on to other types of mining, but if she does, can the country afford yet further reductions in export and local income they generate?
According to worldstopexports.com, in 2016 export of gems and precious metals was no.2 on a list of improving export sales, which rose in value by 158% led by booming international sales in gold whilst exports of ores, slag and ash hit $1.3 billion making it the 6thlargest income earner in a top ten list of export product groups. Yet all this could be threatened by Ms Lopez's actions.
Perhaps her reluctance to target cement mines is because they have more green credentials?
Holcim's Lugait plant is considered an industrial ecotourism center. Through their nursery operations, they have been able to propagate endemic species for their reforestation program in 61.64 hectares, with an 89.60% survival rate of trees planted and they were the first Philippine company to submit a final rehabilitation plan and have it approved by the DENR.
For CEMEX, reaching environmental excellence is apparently their main objective, with sustainability-related issues such as biodiversity, conservation, renewable energy, climate change and emissions monitoring at the heart of what they do.
Back in 2014 they signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Municipality of Rizal, Laguna to push forward its commitment to support the National Greening Program through the company’s institutionalized forest rehabilitation initiative called Isang Kalikasan, Isang Kinabukasan (One Nature, One Future).
Perhaps having been so lauded, it's difficult to then turn around and tell cement and aggregate mines that they are now enemies of nature.
Upon her appointment when she said to President Duterte “I give you my firm commitment that I will do everything that I can and it’s not only to protect the environment [but also] to eradicate poverty,”
Yet by summarily threatening such a major income source without sufficient time for transition planning and establishing income alternatives for the local economy she may be succeeding in the former whilst failing miserably in the latter.
According to salaryexplorer.com the average mine engineer earns 69,542 PHP per annum - that's a large chunk of income not going toward a child's education, the local economy or to the local government in tax should the mine suddenly find itself the victim of Ms Lopez's condemnation, in which case, for the mine employees, words really will hurt as much as sticks and stones.
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