Merf. Thinking is Hard.Anonymous asked you: If we have rich mineral resources like gold why aren’t we mining them already? That would help uplift the poverty by so much!!Yes, it’s true that the Philippines is known for it’s abundant natural resources, majority which are untapped. Many foreigners and some people do want us to mine them as they say that mining all our natural resources like gold, which we have an abundance of, can improve the economy greatly. However many, and I mean many Filipino’s, especially those who will be effected by mining, and are currently effected by it, refuse and are against it, myself included.
The reason why many Filipino’s are against mining is because of the damages it creates both in human life and in the environment. Many people live in the countryside where due to mining has caused calamities from floods and landslides. Also many Filipino’s are very environmental which probably does stem from our past.
It is well known that if the Philippines took advantage of our abundant natural resources, the country would be able to pay off their debts and the economy would improve greatly. But at what price? Damaging our environment? Our way of life? Again many people live in the countryside where all the mining takes place. If mining were to take place many people would be relocated. Will the people themselves improve financially by mining? No, only the mining industry and companies will. The only thing the people will get out of the mining industry is losing land, losing lives, and losing their way of life from farming and fishing.
Floods and landslides in the Philippines most have been caused by the effects of mining in area’s where there is known mining. Because of land being dug up it causes the soil to be loose. When it rains especially in the wet season, that land floods, sources of water becomes a reddish color, and goes down hills, getting rid of plants along the way and nothing to be able to regulate that because all the tree’s are being cut down for the mining, and this all leads to the floods and landslides.
Do you know how many people have been effected by the mining industry? And that if we did exploit our natural resources our people will be effected? It won’t be the companies, the upper class, or the government who will be effected. It’s the people themselves. And we have seen this in other countries where excessive mining takes place where the people don’t benefit at all, but the money benefits the companies and foreign outsiders and countries like the U.S. and Canada.
Our ancestors knew this already as well. They knew how much gold we had. They knew how desirable it was to foreigners like the Spaniards, Chinese, Japanese, etc. However they knew the effects of mining and knew that it should stay in the earth. They regulated the gold mining pretty well, only mining when necessary such as when they need to trade it for something they needed. Our ancestors wore gold, from the nobles to the slaves. Our gold craftsmanship was so great and sophisticated, the Spanish were awed by it. However we knew not to take to much, only when necessary, which is why gold ornaments were passed down through the family by each generation. Because of that we didn’t need to really mine more gold because we passed previous ornaments down. So when the Spaniards came and tried to get our ancestors to tell them where gold reserves were and that they were wasting the abundance they had, our ancestors refused telling them it was better in the earth because they knew.
So yes, way may have plenty of untapped natural resources that could cost billions of dollars and probably help the economy a bit more. But it will not help the actual people who depend on the land and live on it. Which is why many are against mining and even logging.
(via biyuti)
