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OIC Executive Director Romeo B. Dorado's Speech on the 15th SEP Anniversary
OIC
Executive Director Romeo B. Dorado's 15th SEP Anniversary Speech
PALAWAN TODAY: REALITIES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Note : The Speech was delivered with the aid of Microsoft Powerpoint for visual presentation
Slide 1 Introductory Slide
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to begin my presentation
by showing you familiar images of Palawan as a unique and bountiful
province
Slide 2 Map of Palawan
Palawan is the largest province in the country with limited and
narrow lowlands, dominated by hilly to mountainous terrain which
is highly erodable
Slide 3 Biodiversity
Recognized as a biodiversity hotspot internationally, declared by
the UNESCO as a Man and Biosphere Reserve, and home to two world
heritage sites. Palawan is the only province in the Philippines
with a special law, the Strategic Environmental P
lan for Palawan
Slide 4 Relatively Pristine and Unique Environment
Blessed with relatively pristine and unique environment
Slide 5 Rich Mineral Reserves
and rich mineral resources
Slide 6 Productive but limited agricultural lands
While we have productive agricultural lands, these are limited because
of the narrow and limited lowland areas in the province suitable
for agricultural development.
Slide 7 Productive but degraded coastal/marine resources
The province supply significant volume of fish and fishery products
to Manial. However, our resource bases, especially the mangrove
forests and coral reefs are continuously being subjected to degradation.
Slide 8 Our People
And we should not forget our people, a Diverse population with high
population growth rate
Slide 9 Palawan Today: Realities and Sustainable Development
Are these images still exist? Is this the Palawan we want for our
children and our children's children to enjoy? Are we fulfilling
the Sustainable Development we envision for Palawan as contained
in our unique law, the Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan?
Slide 10 Sustainable Development
Allow me to refresh all of us the kind of development we envision
for Palawan. The SEP LAW or Republic Act 7611 defines Sustainable
Development as "… the improvement in the quality of life of the
present and future generations through the complementation of development
and environmental protection activities" (Republic Act 7611, SEP
Law)
Can you imagine Palawan developing under this definition? I cannot
blame you if you have a hard time having a picture of Palawan 25
to 50 years from now much more 100 years from now. I do also have
that same difficulty.
In our humble capacity, we at PCSDS tried to simplify and find an
operational definition of Sustainable Development by going back
to the law, by considering the output of our 1st Environmental and
Economic Summit in 2005, and by looking at the three pillars of
Sustainable Development
Slide 11 Economic, Social, and Environmental and Ecological
Dimensions
Slide 12 Economic dimension
Sustainable development for Palawan as we defined it entails
the creation of wealth from the environment and natural resources
base that we have while ensuring the maintenance of the ecological
processes
(Slide 13) that maintain our life support system.
Such include continuous supply of water for domestic use and food
security, and investing (Slide 14) these created
wealth into programs and projects that will improve the quality
of life of our people. For now, ,our investments should focus in
capacitating our people to be self reliant by investing in priority
basic services.
Let us take a closer look at the four (4) key development areas
we now have in Palawan to see whether we are taking the sustainable
development path.
Slide 15 Onshore mining
First, let us consider the Mining Industry
Slide 16 Extent of Mining Application
According to President Arroyo, this industry is the savior
of the national economy. Moreover, the Philippine has the potential
to be the 5th largest mining power in the world. Statistics show
that the Philippines is the third largest in gold reserves, fourth
largest in copper, fifth in nickel and sixth in chromite. In the
Philippines' 2004-2010 Development Plan, it was stated that mining
will generate between 4 to 6 billion dollars in investments and
about 240,000 jobs over the 6 year period.
As indicated on the map, the whole stretch of the mountain range
of Southern Palawan is covered by mining applications. Currently,
four (4) mining companies operate in Palawan: two (2) in Narra with
Small Scale Mining Permit and, one (1) in Quezon with Special Mining
Permit., and one (1) in Bataraza. Furthermore, 65.5% of the applied
areas are located in both the Core and Restricted Zones of the ECAN.
Slide 17 Economic Imperative
On the economic side, mining though not labor intensive is said
to generate modest local employment. The local government also shares
40% in the excise taxes imposed on the minerals and is also the
recipient of the P50/ha/yr occupation fee to be paid by the contractor.
Slide 18 Social
Further, the mining companies are required to provide 1% of its
direct mining and milling cost for social development projects with
the host community as the beneficiary.
Slide 19 Environmental/Ecological
While it may appear then that mining is economically sound, such
gains may be short term compared to its adverse ecological impact
which could persist in the long term.
In the absence of effective mitigating measures, we expect the siltation
of rivers. It must be stressed that the effect of siltation is not
only on water quality but more so on the productivity of the affected
areas both lowland agricultural areas and the coastal marine areas.
Therefore given very limited agricultural area and dwindling coastal
resources it is the food security of the province as well as the
livelihood of fisherfolks and farmers that will most likely be affected.
Perhaps, it might interest you to know that there are indications
that the present rice production level in Palawan is no longer sufficient
to support its population. If we base the computation from the collected
data that the the total rice production in 2006 was 176, 258 metric
tons and peg the per capita rice requirement at 124 kg/yr, the estimated
population that could be supported is 923,933. With population growth
rate of 3.6%, the projected population today is 967,614 which is
more than the population that could be supported by the current
rice production. Unless of course we have other means to maximize
our rice production per unit area by employing new technologies
and innovations
Slide 20 Environmental/Ecological
Moreover, forest loss as a result of open pit mining shall be inevitable
and this will ultimately result in biodiversity loss, flooding,
water shortage for agriculture, industry and domestic use due to
reduction in water holding capacity of the area and in fact may
contribute to global warming, as the capacity of the forest to absorb
CO2 emissions shall be diminished.
Slide 21 PEARL FARM OPERATIONS
The clean waters of Palawan's coastal environment has attracted
investors to engage in pearl farming particularly in the island
municipalities
Slide 22 Extent of Operation
There are about 11 companies operating pearl farms in Palawan and
these are located in the municipalities of Balabac, Taytay, San
Vicente, Dumaran, Busuanga, Culion, Linapacan and Coron. A total
of 44,337 has. are under lease for pearl farming by the concerned
municipal governments to various operators. The lease period is
generally 25 years.
Slide 23 Economic Imperatives
Computation using available data showed that in general a pearl
farm operator with a leased area of one hectare usually earns about
P42,000 per year. While the host LGU earns only about P50-350 per
year.
Slide 24 Social
The bulk of the wealth created by this industry therefore goes to
the operators. Further, aside from the minimal earnings of the LGU,
the fisherfolks are prevented from fishing directly in the leased
areas which are mostly productive fishing grounds. This forces our
fishermen to take longer routes incurring added expense.
Slide 25 Environmental/Ecological
Ecologically however, pearl farm operations has the effect of improving
the resource condition of the leased marine area. This could therefore
bring about an increase in fish stock in the area with possible
spill over effect in the surrounding marine areas.
Slide 26 Eco-Tourism
In the area of tourism, the Philippines has been identified as the
primary tourist destination in Asia because of its strategic location
in the heart of Asia. Palawan because of its natural beauty is one
of the eight major tourist destination in the country. Last year,
Palawan was also included in the Central Philippines mega-region
together with the island provinces in the Visayas. According to
the national leadership, it shall be developed into the country's
tourism center. With this, Palawan became a recipient of various
airport projects, both upgrading and new construction distributed
in strategic locations in the province like Busuanga, Balabac and
San Vicente.
Slide 27 Economic Imperatives
While in economic terms, ecotourism can generate local employment
and allow the infusion of foreign earnings thru the provision of
ancillary services to foreign tourists,
Slide 28 Social Imperatives
The establishment of support facilities such as roads,
airports and other infrastructures can cause the displacement of
some communities and the conversion of certain prime agricultural
lands into other uses which can further affect our food security.
Slide 29 Environment/Ecological
On the aspect of the environment, ecotourism is generally compatible
with environmental protection because in order for ecotourism to
be sustainable, the pristine environment has to be preserved. Thus,
with ecotourism, the remaining intact forest and the good coral
reefs of Palawan will be protected and the good water quality of
bathing establishments be maintained. However, while we welcome
more tourists, there is the need to establish the tourists carrying
capacity of the province prevent adverse impact to the environment
such as pollution of waters along beaches.
Slide 30 LIVE REEF FISH FOR FOOD OPERATIONS
The proliferation of our fishermen who are engaged in live reef
fishery is driven by the international demand for the commodity
especially our Chinese neighbors in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
Slide
Slide 31 Economic Imperatives
The local market has driven the price up to 5x the price of a regular
fresh fish which is very good. It is like a gold mine that we can
have in perpetuity.
Slide 32 Social Imperatives
However, the government only realize very minimal benefits, our
people are still poor because of poor reinvest of these benefits.
Households and individuals give less priorities to savings for food,
medicine, and education.
Slide 33 Environmental/ Ecological
And finally, biologically live reef fish for food trade is not sustainable
because of the destruction of our coral reefs due to cyanide use
and overfishing due to the catching of immature to maturing individuals.
Slide 34 INDUSTRIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?
Given these four (4) key industries/business ventures in the province,
and going back to the three pillars of sustainable development,
the key question for us to ponder is "Are we doing the
balance of the three pillars of Sustainable Development in the business
ventures we are pursuing?" While we are generating
income from the environment, are these incomes re-invested to public
sector projects that capacitate our people to be productive and
self reliant to uplift their standard of living while ensuring the
maintenance of ecological processes and services. While we allow
mining, will the project not negatively affect our IPs and farmers
by ensuring the preservation of culture and a continuous supply
of water for irrigation and domestic use. The law provided us with
the physical framework for Sustainable Development through the establishment
of the ECAN Zones, however the pursuance of some of these industries
such as mining which are generally located on mineral rich areas
generally located on the Core and Restricted Zones runs counter
to the ECAN framework.
Slide 35 RETHINKING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FOR PALAWAN
The second question I wanted to pose to everybody is, How should
our Palawan province sustainably develop current business ventures
into full industries with national and global competitive edge?
Slide 36 Key Business Venture Characteristics
Let us go back to my previous presentation. While all of these key
current business ventures have the potential to be developed into
full industries and contribute to the SD of the province the current
reality points to the fact that WE ARE NOT CONCIOUSLY DEVELOPING
APPROPRIATE BUSINESS VENTURES AS FULL INDUSTRIES: "
• We simply serve as source of materials to the
rest of the world with very limited value adding. We supply the
other countries such as China and Australia with our very own mineral
resources to build their own infrastructures. But what about us?
We simply buy from them.
• Related support business ventures and facilities
are either lacking or are not organized locally. Airstrips for small
air carriers are put up everywhere not by the government but by
the traders-business entities themselves. While our products are
enjoyed by foreign consumers we don't even have a single international
airport or seaport. to facilitate the transport of goods direct
to the consuming countries.
• Except for a number of business ventures that practice industry
best practices, many of these key business ventures are based on
non-sustainable practices because of the imbalance in the attainment
of the three pillars of sustainable development. This is demonstrated
by the non-realization of the true benefits of the specific industry
or business such as in the case of pearl farming, to poor investment
of these benefits as what is happening in the case of livefish industry,
and the danger posed to food security and biodiversity by allowing
certain destructive activities such as mining in areas classified
as Core and Restricted Zones.
• Limited taxation and revenue generation for the government
because of the absence of the true valuation of the environment
and natural resources, and the external location of main Business
Offices. As evidence is the largely dependent public sector to the
Internal Revenue Allotment. It is high time that we view the use
of environment and natural resources as business with PROFIT and
REVENUE as motive; and
• Perhaps we do not invest enough in development initiatives
that will capacitate our local people to develop the economy. It
is high time we rethink what key competitive industries we should
develop for Palawan and HOW. In so doing we need to develop and
foster a culture of Competitiveness and Innovation in the context
of national and global setting.
Slide 37 Japanese
If the Japanese are known for their Cars, appliances,
and Kobe Beef;
Slide 28 Swiss
The Swiss for their secure banking system, watches and Swiss Knife.;
Slide 29 Guimaras
Closer at home the Guimaras people for their mangoes;
Slide 40 Davaoenos
The Davaoenos for their cut flowers and fruits;
Slide 30 Dagupan
The people of Dagupan for their Bangus; HOW ABOUT PALAWAN
Slide 31 Palawan
THE MINERAL CAPITAL CAPITAL OF THE PHILIPPINES? or the
NO. 1 CASHEW PRODUCER OF THE COUNTRY? or PALAWAN SOUTH SEA PEARLS,
PALAWAN LIVEFISH?
or
BETTER YET PALAWAN AS A TOTAL TOURIST DESTINATION-Excellent Food,
Excellent Environment, Friendly People etc. BUT HOW? This will be
one of our agenda for the next 4 months as we craft our Road Map
to Sustainable Development.
Slide 44 Sustainable Development Framework for Palawan
So much had been said with the previous presentations and with my
presentations. A lot of points to ponder as we craft our road map
for Sustainable Development. I would like to end my presentation
by reminding everybody that sustainable development is not just
about the economy, the socio-cultural needs and aspirations, or
the environment. It is about all of the three (3) and putting balance
and equity for this generation and the generations to come. It is
also about organized industries and companies that employ industry
best practices, good governance on the part of the government, strong
institutional linkages between industries the academe and the research
institutions, and the empowerment of each Palaweno to make a difference
and contribute to the Sustainable Development of this Province as
we integrate with the Global community.
Slide 45 Which Way To Go Palawan?
Thank you and Good Day!
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