Policy Advocacy for Mining & National Industrialization

Ma. Theresa Concepcion and Ricarido Saturay, Jr.

Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan (AGHAM)

Abstract

This paper aims to address the current crisis of the Philippine mining industry and present an alternative policy of mining towards national industrialization. Mining has long been practiced in Philippine society. Yet it remains an export-oriented industry that is very much dependent on foreign capital. It remains extractive, with no downstream industries to process its raw mineral output into metal products and machineries needed by other local industries. Such characteristics contribute to the recurring crisis of our mining industry. The many policies enacted by the Philippine government, particularly the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, do not fully realize the role that mining plays in national development. The policy of mining towards national industrialization aims to gear mineral production for local use instead of exports, develop our local capability to extract and process our minerals, and to link the mining industry with the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. In national industrialization, government plays a key role in formulating a national plan that outlines the development of a mining industry that is intimately linked with the overall development of our economy.