PRESS RELEASE

September 14, 2011

Just as the bull market for metals has actively pushed the mining industry of the country, the Philippine government welcomed it with open arms with mining applications totaling to 2,136. The liberalization of the local mining industry has been flaunted by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines to gain foreign partnership in the business of mining. They have sponsored a three-day mining conference from September 13 to Sept. 15 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel. The said conference is participated by almost 500 local and international delegates to discuss the global scenario of mining investments and its opportunities.

THE landslide last April 22, 2011 in a small-scale mining community in Pantukan, Compostela Valley which left 14 dead, 14 injured and 8 missing (NDRRMC), once again brought the concern of small-scale mining to the forefront. The incident reminds us of the ever-present occupational hazards faced by our country’s small-scale miners and signals the need to be pro-active in preventing occupationally-related disasters.

The preliminary results of a recent study by the Department of Science and Technology Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) show that the “brain drain” phenomenon continues and has even worsened during the past few years. According to DOST-SEI Officer in Charge and Deputy Director Dr. Leticia Catris, the number of emigrating science workers from the Philippines has ballooned to around two and a half times compared to the figure 11 years ago. In 1998, there were 9,877 outbound science workers from the country. More than a decade after in 2009, the number has grown by 148 percent to 24,502. More than half of these are health professionals and nurses while a fifth are engineers.

In investigating the characteristics of a certain system, one usually performs several measurements simultaneously on it to obtain an average description. Alternatively, one can observe the system for a certain period to find statistical and qualitative behavior patterns that do not change over time. If we have a-priori knowledge about the system’s dynamics, unexpected data points usually indicate the need to revise our original description. On the other hand, if the measurements match our a-priori description, it further validates it and makes it useful in forecasting future behavior.

Every semester, I get the op-portunity to lecture about national industrialization and its relation to science and technology development at several Science, Technology and Society classes in the University of the Philippines in Diliman. I discuss about the need to develop domestic industries, not only to provide local employment and goods, but also to push for local science and technology to flourish outside the academe and have an impact on a larger part of Philippine society.

In more ways than one, the on-going agrarian dispute at the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac is bigger than what is in the papers.

In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, President Benigno Aquino 3rd laid down his plan to engage in more public-private partnerships to build roads and bridges, enhance our Navy, build agricultural facilities and fund his plans for reforms in education, health and other social services. His panacea seems to be hinged upon the privatization of basic social services and infrastructure development which has historically resulted in many of the problems that we as consumers are facing right now: ever increasing rates in electricity, water and other basic services.

Yesterday marked the turnover of the helm of government to the new president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd. There are immense challenges that he must face—from his daang matuwid to undoing the decades-long underdevelopment that our people face. How far President Aquino’s campaign for reform will reach will depend on how far he is willing to go to reverse the policies that have kept this situation in place.

This is a response to Mr. Luz's commentary entitled, "Agham," printed last May 8, 2010, where he asserts that the country's low levels of science and math achievement is the culprit behind our inability to develop and maintain a significant industrial base.

As we celebrate Earth Day 2010, let us remember that the state of our environment is tied to the political and economic aspects of our society.

This link is crucial to understand why—in spite of our country’s rich natural resources—we have remained underdeveloped, our people deeper in poverty and has become more vulnerable to the backlash of a destroyed environment.