What: Corruption, gov't inefficiency' to blame for environmental destruction

(LOPEZ, 2020) has no problem with people making money, but it's a different story when the operation
of a business already 'kills water, adversely affects life, and keeps our people poor

Lopez, who has repeatedly insisted that she's not against the mining industry, said she has no problem
with people making money – she is, after all, from a business family. It is a different story, however,
when that business has a negative impact on the people.

"I do have a problem when the operations of that business kills water, adversely affects life, and keeps
our people poor," she said.

And in a society where there are "different kinds of forces," she noted that it is the government's
responsibility to "play the middle path."

The middle path means you look at this, and then you make decisions, but if you're co-opted by big
business, who's going to take care of the poor? Is there any way that the poor, the fishermen, and the
farmers can ever stand...against political interest and big business? They'll eat them up alive," she said.

Lopez added, "And if the government shirks in this responsibility, what's going to happen to the poor if
we don't do our job, if we anchor and make our decisions because we're bought by big business?"

The sad reality, according to Lopez, is that "mining money and big business fund political campaigns."

"And so what happens? There are congressmen and senators and whoever who are obligated to mining
interest and big business, and it's not right. In fact, there are some who even do the mining themselves.
There should be some line," she explained.

Lopez's move to close over half of the large-scale mines in the country has met criticism from the mining
industry and even a senior Cabinet member, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, but the
environment chief is confident that a majority of Filipinos are on her side.

"My solace comes from the fact that there may be politicians, there may be business interests, but you
know, if you look in social media, 99% is in my favor," she said. (READ: Confusion over the mining list:
How did DENR decide on closure?)

Lopez added: "And if these politicians want to get elected again, then they should consider that actually,
the percentage and the majority of the Filipino people don't want destruction of the environment, and
they do also feel that we shouldn't give in to big business." – Rappler.com
current mining plans will undermine the Government’s own strategy for sustainable development by
destroying or severely damaging critical eco-systems, including watersheds, rivers, marine eco-
systems and important agricultural production area

 implementation of the proposed mining plan will bring insufficient benefits to the Filipino people

 corruption is a serious problem in the Philippines and it can be expected that plans for extensive
mining operations in remote areas requiring licensing, regulation and monitoring will make it
worse

the inefficiency of government, and it's the corruption. I mean, all regulatory
agencies, especially here in the Philippines, are seedbeds of corruption because you
sell the permits, you sell the clearance, you look the other way just so that they can
continue to do what they do, and that's the prime reason. It's corruption, it's
inefficiency; that's why it happened.

The Philippines was categorized by Transparency International in 2004 as suffering from ‘rampant
corruption’.43 The mining sector in the Philippines appears to be no exception to this. The fact-finding
team was provided with examples of corruption linked with mining at local government level.44 The
fact-finding team is supporting a complaint to the national ombudsman in relation to corruption in
Midsalip. The Special Representative of the Secretary General on the Issue of Human Rights and
Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, John Ruggie, listed large-scale corruption as
one of the abuses typically associated with the extractive industry.45 The Extractive Industry Review,
commissioned by the World Bank to review the possible contribution of Bank investment in mining
projects to poverty alleviation and sustainable development, highlighted the connection between
corruption and mining46. Other international studies have likewise linked dependency on natural
resources to high rates of corruption.47 A 2005 European Commission report stated that the DENR had
‘shied away’ from introducing ‘internal controls to curb corruption, which has traditionally been
notorious with respect to illegal logging and mining concessions’.