They are not mutually exclusive, stupid!

We have said this before and we stress it again: Food and mining can co-exist.

They can even reinforce each other. 

But don’t take our word for it. Don’t  listen to the local mining industry umbrella group. Pay no attention even to pragmatic local government executives, community leaders, and tribal chiefs of host communities who support the industry and stand to gain the most from the benefits of sustainable mining.

Hear instead the sentiments of a scion of a staunchly nationalist political clan and a new convert to responsible mining.       

House Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada said food security and mining can go together -- that is, with strict and proper monitoring.

“Responsible mining is possible and can exist if there is strict monitoring.We cannot be as industrialized or developed as much as we wish to if we don’t allow mining in the country,” Tañada was quoted by a broadsheet as saying.

“Primary is food security, but there are areas where agriculture and mining can co-exist,” he said.

He noted that some areas in the country were purely agricultural and  thus must be treated as “no-mining zones.” But other areas could be best for mining if the agricultural activities there are minimal, he said.

Tañada said he and his colleagues in the House would push for amendments in the Mining Act to ensure the strict monitoring of the mining industry.

“Food security, pollution, and other concerns should be included in the discussions,” he said.

“Strict monitoring during the extraction of minerals and rehabilitation by the mining company after their operations are necessary to avoid disasters such as what happened in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan,” the senior House leader said.

Earlier, the state mining regulator said local governments units’ open pit mining ban ordinances and other issues plaguing the mining industry will be addressed this year.

Mines and Geosciences Bureau Director Leo L. Jasareno said  reforms would be based on recommendations of the group created to study the nagging issues in the mining industry.

The mining policy group will formulate the mining industry policy of the administration “before the end of the year,” Jasareno said.

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines also said it was optimistic that the so-called minerals policy group drafting the country’s mining policy would recommend the continued promotion of “responsible” mining as allowed under the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.

CMP president  Benjamin Philip Romualdez s Romualdez said in October he remained confident that new mining investments this year would hit $1 billion and maintained his forecast of up to $20 billion in additional mining investments between 2011 and 2016.