The best yardstick for an idea or a concept is not whether all who would be affected by it approve of it.    

Why? Because all stakeholders have an interest to protect.

This is particularly true for a vital industry whose development impacts on host communities, workers, investors, and the government.

Since their respective interests intertwine and hinge on the success of such an industrial undertaking, their sentiments are colored accordingly.

And so to gauge the relevance, if not the urgency, of supporting a particular industry, listen instead to an independent authority who can provide an outsider’s view or a second opinion.

On the issue of mining, an industry which is undergoing a boom on account of rising prices of metals and mineral products because of surging demand overseas, let us take the counsel of an academic and a religious authority.        

Former Ateneo de Davao University president Fr. Emeterio Barcelon, SJ has cautioned everyone not to turn the Tampakan mining debate into a divisive one.

“This is not a debate where someone wins and someone loses; this should be based on realities,” Barcelon said. “A win-win solution is possible if we all stick to facts.”

He admitted to being a vocal supporter of what he calls “responsible mining”.

“Open-pit mining is much safer than underground mining because all mining activities are above the ground and that is reality and not rhetoric,” he said.

The religious scholar explained that open-pit mining operations can be rehabilitated as shown in other countries, noting that “underground mining activities pose all sorts of safety and environmental problems and rehabilitation is difficult”.

Citing a particular case, he said: “For instance, we have been studying the Tampakan project as early as 1986 when it was still classified as a gold deposit and it is very rich. That project is very big and will definitely help South Cotabato economically. We should have developed the Tampakan project long time ago.”

Barcelon encouraged both sides of the Tampakan debate to study how responsible mining has been proven possible in mining projects around the world.

“Rehabilitation is very possible and this is an important aspect of this issue,” he said, stressing that: “We need the investments in the mining industry to help the government in its poverty alleviation agenda.

“Responsible mining will be an economic driver for Mindanao and even for the entire country,” Barcelon said.

Out thoughts, exactly.