By Paulo Loreto Lim

With the number of unemployed in Sipalay City increasing after the closure of the Maricalum Mining Corporation site, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Gina Lopez suggested, on a recent visit to the city, those seeking work become entrepreneurs.
While hosting a mining industry forum in the city, she discussed livelihood programs and shared related stories from her previous profession, managing director for the ABS-CBN Foundation, a non-profit, non-government organization.
Lopez added entrepreneur or enterprise ventures should be “driven by ecosystems principles and social justice.”
Sipalay City Mayor Oscar Montilla, Jr. said, “It was good for the secretary to come here and see the situation herself.”
However, despite the secretary’s musings on entrepreneurship, the mayor emphasized the immediate necessity for jobs.
“There’s a need for jobs,” Montilla stated. “We cannot cope with the volume of laborers.”
Meanwhile, during a separate visit to Basay, Negros Oriental, Lopez observed the Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines (CDCP) open mine pit, which reportedly emits excessive amounts of copper and heavy metal toxicity.
She called it “a crime against the Filipino people.”
Lopez vowed to take “serious action,” saying, “It’s the government’s job to stop this kind of atrocity.”
According to medical research center, the National Institutes of Health, exposure to such elements can cause organ damage and have also be classified as carcinogens, or materials that can cause cancer./WDJ