THIS year’s business conference on September 16-18 in Cagayan de Oro will focus on electric power, agriculture, and mining. After safety, economic development depends on availability of electricity. Four- hour brownouts of last summer ruined the potentials of Mindanao as business location. But something can be done; just as Davao was once notoriously violent, it is now the safest town in the country. The hope of the country is Mindanao for catching up economically with its neighbors. Once safety is assured, the next need is electric power. We have enough water resources to produce all the electricity we need. El Niño wrought havoc on the Mindanao economy last summer because the present hydro establishments are all in the western side of the island. When the west was dry the eastern side was wet. But we had no hydro harvesting establishments in that side of the island. Over 55% of the power in Mindanao is from hydro which causes no pollution and spends no foreign exchange but just uses the abundant water to go through the turbines and returns it back to the river. The Dept. of Energy has identified over 20 potential large hydro projects and over 100 mini hydro projects. The island needs 100 Megawatts additional a year for the next ten years to just keep up with the projected demand without the extra demand to spur economic development. Mindanao like Palawan is not interconnected with the power grid of Luzon and the Visayas. Wind and nuclear sources would not be as practical as geothermal, solar, or hydro for Mindanao. What then is still missing? The policy on incentives for investment and pricing are still in the making. But once these are clear, the power situation should turn from brownout country to power surplus. On the part of consumers, they want better transparency.

The agriculture topic of the conference hinges on determination of government policy. Corn and rice self sufficiency might be a priority for food safety. But it may not be the best economic way for the land use in Mindanao. An alternative is to produce high-value crops like bananas, pineapples, and other fruits for export while we import our rice supply. Should we encourage small farmers to produce rice and corn against high-value crops like fruits in Mindanao? These may still be small holding but these can be banded together for export marketing, e.g., bananas, pineapple, rubber, etc.

The third item in the conference is mining. Its potential is vast. But the pollution watchers and small holder protectors are vigilant, as they should be. There is a cost and a risk to everything; even crossing the street entails the risk of being run over by a car. Should we then forego the use of cars?  The risks have to be weighed against benefits. It is a crime to leave the gold in the bowels of our mountains while one in five of our people are hungry. Mining can attract billions in investments. What we need is to mitigate any risk or pollution that comes with it. There is a cost but it should not be excessive or unreasonable. The next question is whether the ordinary or the small people will benefit from the investment. The general principle is to seek the good of the greater number, and skew the benefits a bit toward those who have less in life to get more in law. But the condemnation of any mining out of hand can be to the detriment of the poor who can benefit from the investment. Another problem is argumentation to save our patrimony for future Filipinos (meaning the rich ones) cannot be accepted while present Filipinos go hungry. It can be a question of confidence of our being able to enforce our laws for the benefit of the majority. The benefits should be now and not tomorrow. This can be a pie in the sky when there is potential bread at hand. This is a difficult decision that has to be made. What are our priorities? Hunger and the fight against poverty are priorities.

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