Ateneo Policy Center— State of PH Mineral Processing Sector Now a National Security Issue

National security: a potential middle ground for consensus between mining proponents and critics.
 
This was the message of the Ateneo Policy Center (APC) last September 19, 2018 at the Mining Philippines 2018 Conference at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza. Presenting ASOG’s study “Mining through the National Security Lens” on behalf of Dean Ronald U. Mendoza, Jerik Cruz of the APC underscored increasing security risks stemming from the Philippines’ weak mineral processing sector, particularly with regards to iron and steel products.

With “Build, Build, Build” and the government’s industrial policy initiatives well-underway, secure access to materials such as iron and steel inputs is essential for the success of these programs. Yet already as of 2016, the Philippines was dependent on importing majority of such goods from the Peoples’ Republic of China— with whom the country remains entangled in a territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea.  Past trade episodes such as China’s banning Philippine banana exports during the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff, also suggest that it would be in the country’s long-term interest to revisit the growth of a robust mineral processing sector for meeting the Philippines’ infrastructure and industrialization needs.
 
Linked to such issues is the need to develop the Philippines’ Blue Economy, spanning the natural resource, tourism, biotechnology, and shipbuilding sectors. While the country’s maritime economy is among the most promising in the region, the potential of such resources to support inclusive and sustainable development will not be unrealized if the country’s ability to safeguard its territorial waters remains limited.

Other presenters at the panel which Mr. Cruz presented in included Dr. Cielo Magno of the UP School of Economics, and Director Nestor Arcansalin of the Board of Investments. Reactions to the presentions were provided by former environment secretary Horacio Ramos and BusinessWorld columnist Nonoy Oplas.
 
Dean Mendoza’s and Mr. Cruz’s study has been published both as a working paper of the Ateneo School of Government and as a special study of the Stratbase ADR Institute for Strategic and International Studies, and remains an area of continued monitoring by APC.

Attachments:

 Mining Through the National Security Lens (ADRi).pdf  

ASOG Working Paper Mining Through the National Security Lens.pdf