While China\u2019s brazen occupation of the Philippines\u2019 Scarborough Shoal, located just 125 nautical miles from Masinloc, Zambales, has captured all the national and international attention, little has been mentioned about China\u2019s occupation of the Philippine mining industry, an entirely different issue from the Filipino Chinese (\u201cChinoys\u201d) domination of the Philippine economy. <\/p>\n
One of China\u2019s vast army of mining companies operating under the radar in the Philippines is located near the Scarborough Shoal in the coastal town of Masinloc where China\u2019s Wei-Wei Group has set up a US$100 million nickel processing plant. In nearby Botolan, Zambales, China\u2019s Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group Company Ltd. operates a US$150 million nickel exploration and cobalt processing project. <\/p>\n
As the Asia Sentinel reported on November 12, 2012 (\u201cChina\u2019s Filipino Gold Rush\u201d), \u201cWith an estimated US$1 trillion in untapped mineral resources in the Philippines, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Chinese mining companies, many of them operating illegally, have been exporting gold, nickel and other precious minerals out through the island country\u2019s porous coastal ports, where there are no customs officials and plenty of bribable officials to turn their eyes the other way.\u201d
\n(http:\/\/www.asiasentinel.com\/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4965&Itemid=232)<\/p>\n
With its occupation of the Scarborough Shoal (what China calls \u201cHuanyin Island\u201d), smuggling precious metals from the Philippines to a China base will be even more convenient especially after it is transformed into a four story fortress, as China did with the Philippines\u2019 Mischief Reef, located just 75 miles from Palawan, which China occupied in 1996. <\/p>\n
The Asia Sentinel\u2019s investigation reported that \u201cas of now, of the gold registered as leaving the Philippines, only 3 percent of the exports are registered with customs officials. The other 97 percent arrives in Hong Kong without being taxed by the government in Manila, resulting in a massive tax [revenue] loss for the Philippine government.\u201d <\/p>\n
While that 97% of the gold is leaving the Philippines illegally, it is somehow legally entering Hong Kong as HK trade statistics showed that \u201cgold consignments imported from Philippines into Hong Kong had been declared,\u201d the Sentinel added. <\/p>\n
In April of 2011, Pacific Strategies and Assessments (PSA), a company supplying foreign embassies and corporations in Manila with intelligence and business climate reports, released a study titled \u201cExploitive Chinese Mining in the Philippines\u201d which reported that the incursion of Chinese mining firms into the Philippines has had a disastrous effect on the Philippine environment. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile few are surprised over the assertiveness and penetration of Chinese mining investors, there is substantial evidence of unaccountability, misconduct and corruption in many Chinese mining deals,\u201d the PSA reported. <\/p>\n
These firms do not \u201cdeliver correct compensation for environmental damage and value of minerals extracted from devastated mining areas. Chinese mining companies have a reputation for poor adherence to environment standards, especially with regard to small-scale mining projects,\u201d the report added. <\/p>\n
Mine Safety Record is the Worst in the World<\/p>\n
China\u2019s mine safety record is the worst in the world. More than 2,600 Chinese miners died in mining accidents last year. While China accounts for 40% of the world\u2019s global coal output, it accounts for 80% of mining deaths in the world. <\/p>\n
In 2008, the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources admitted that at least 3 million metric tons of various mineral ores were brought into China that were untaxed in the Philippines. <\/p>\n
The Chinese mining companies\u2019 occupation of the Philippines began in earnest during the administration of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when 26 Chinese corporations registered in the Philippines to mine for gold, iron ore, nickel, copper, manganese, lead, zinc, chromate and cobalt. They operate in 16 provinces in the Philippines: Cagayan, Benguet, Zambales, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Palawan, Leyte, Eastern Samar, Bohol, Cebu, Misamis Oriental, Davao Oriental, Surigao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While China\u2019s brazen occupation of the Philippines\u2019 Scarborough Shoal, located just 125 nautical miles from Masinloc, Zambales, has captured all the national and international attention, little has been mentioned about China\u2019s occupation of the Philippine mining industry, an entirely different issue from the Filipino Chinese (\u201cChinoys\u201d) domination of the Philippine economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}