The truth about Philippine Gold

 (Published ENRICH magazine, 2023)

I LOVE GOLD. Many of you do, too, I'd wager.

Owning gold, either in the form of fine jewelry or 24 karat gold bars 99.5% pure, makes you feel special; like you're a SOMEBODY whatever your station in life might be. It's as if gold opens an escape hatch away from this shithole called Earth and into a problem-free golden world -- if only for a few minutes of joyful fantasy.

And the exhilarating FEEL of cold, pure gold in your hands can ignite an ecstasy almost similar to an orgasm. Gold is utterly beautiful. Thank God for gold. It's still the next best investment after cash.

A woman's chastity cover made of gold crafted by Filipinos..

Golden Filipinos

The Filipinos' affinity for gold is as enduring as it is cultural. It dates back centuries to before the arrival of the rapacious Spaniards in 1521.

Gold was extensively used by pre-Hispanic tribes in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. Items of gold were symbols of power among the maharlika and badges of status among tribes.

Ancient Filipinos widely used gold as jewelry, body ornaments, accoutrements, clothing, currency, works of art and gilding for weapons. The popularity of gold is well documented by archaeological records and in many written accounts from pre-colonial and the early Spanish colonial period.  Gold, however, led to our subjugation by the Spaniards.

Even today, it's not well-known that gold was the main reason why Spain set out to conquer the Philippines. It was never about Spain spreading Roman Catholicism and the word of Christ to the heathen natives. This is pure nonsense. It was all about stealing gold from innocent Filipinos and enslaving them in the process.

The extensive use of gold and the incredible artistry of our ancient jewelry makers were on full display for the world to marvel at during an exhibit entitled "Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms" held 2016 in New York City.

This widely applauded event showcased magnificent works of gold discovered over the past half-century in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. On display were jewelry, regalia, ceremonial weapons, ritualistic and funerary objects from the 10th to the 13th centuries.

Hammered gold plaques created by ancient Filipinos displayed at “Philippine Gold Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms” held 2016 at New York City..

The golden treasures included necklaces, pendants, bracelets, finger rings, pectorals, “kamagi,” waistbands, dishes and bowls. Such was the excellent craftsmanship of Filipino goldsmiths that they created wee ornaments so minute it’s almost impossible to discern their intricate details with the naked eye.

Of keen interest to visitors were the "chastity covers," which are triangular pieces of gold with rounded corners and engraved with floral motifs. It was worn by Filipino women over their genitalia. Hailed as the star of this exhibit, however, was a stunning golden sash (or caste cord) made entirely of gold beads. This five-foot long masterpiece weighing four kilograms was worn over one shoulder and across the chest. It extended to the hip and was adorned by a now lost finial.

Gold was a most popular metal used in jewelry-making because this precious metal was readily available throughout the archipelago. Our ancestors, therefore, flaunted their gold with freedom and abandon, which we sadly can't say for their descendants today.

Then, as now, the most important gold mining sites are the Cordillera Mountain Range in North Luzon; Camarines Norte (the “gold town” of Paracale) in the Bicol Region; Masbate in the Visayas, and Davao de Oro (literally “Davao of Gold”) and the Butuan-Surigao enclave along the Agusan River in Mindanao.

There are gold mines in 40 of our country's 81 provinces. Of the 40, 15 provinces are identified as "gold-rich" by the national government.

The Philippines today sits on the world's second-largest gold deposits, said a 2019 report by the Investing News Network (INN), a Canadian investment news website. This hoard has remained mostly untapped since 2017 due to a ban on open-pit metal mining. Our country was ranked 24th in global gold production in 2018, producing 36.8 tonnes (metric tons or MT). It will soon move-up in this ranking.

A golden sash or caste cord.

Gold fever

The good news is that the next few years should be a golden era for Filipino gold-lovers. Much of our golden wealth is about to come out of the ground and into the light.

This impending new gold rush has been unlocked by a national government order reinstating open-pit mining throughout the Philippines. In December 2021, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reversed the four-year-old ban on open-pit metal mining implemented in 2017 by the late DENR Secretary Gina Lopez, an environmentalist and mining industry foe who died in 2019.

Lopez's ban on open-pit mining included gold, silver, copper and complex ores. It was intended to “protect the environment," said Lopez. She also criticized open-pit mines as “perpetual liabilities” for the Philippine government.

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order (DAO) 2021-40 signed by former Secretary Roy Cimatu formally repealed DAO 2017-10 that imposed the mining ban.

Brushing aside loud protests against DAO 2021-40, DENR claimed lifting the ban will “revitalize the mining industry and usher in significant economic benefits to the country by providing raw materials for the construction and development of other industries and by increasing employment opportunities in rural areas where there are mining activities thereby stimulating countryside development.”

The mining industry hasn't lived-up to its full potential because it's been “mired since the 1980s in klutzy laws, environmental battles and land rights issues,” noted a story in Forbes magazine. In addition, most indigenous peoples in the country (especially those in Mindanao) are against mining. The indigenous also have special rights that allow them to veto mining projects in their lands.

The national government, which isn’t earning as much as it should from gold mining, and commercial miners are eager to exploit the country's remaining untapped gold deposits. The mining industry contributed only PhP31 billion ($600 million) to the Philippine economy in 2020 by way of taxes, fees and royalties paid to the national and local governments, said the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

In contrast, the Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) industry plows-in some PhP1.63 trillion ($30 billion) into the economy each year, according to Nexford University, a fully online university based in the United States.

MGB data also reveals the Philippines produced 20.8 MT of gold worth $866.7 million in 2018. The country produced 22.8 MT of gold valued at $894.6 million in 2017. In March 2019, the government estimated the value of the country's remaining gold deposits as ranging from $9 billion to $11.2 billion.

On the other hand, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimated our gold reserves in January 1998 at 101.6 million MT of gold ore, equivalent to around 240 MT of gold. The government said 27.7 million MT of gold ore containing 36 MT of gold was extracted from 1988 to 1994. This is equivalent to extracting 3.9 million MT of gold ore, or 5.14 MT of gold, every year.

The Philippines is studded with mineral mines. Fully 25% (or 764,000 hectares) of the country's 30 million hectare total land area were subject to mining concessions as of July 2021. More than nine million hectares are said to be laden with large quantities of valuable mineral deposits.

These mineral deposits are worth more than $1 trillion, estimated Mongabay, a conservation news web portal based in the U.S. Most of these minerals are copper, gold, nickel, aluminum and chromite. Our country exported metallic and non-metallic minerals worth $5.2 billion in 2020. Copper, gold and nickel were the three top metallic exports in that order. 

The Philippines is the third largest gold-producing country in Southeast Asia after Australia and Indonesia. China, Australia and Russia are the world's largest producers of gold, said INN.

Half of the world's gold production goes to jewelry. Around 10% is used industrially while a third goes into gold bars and gold coins owned by monetary authorities and central banks around the world.

Gold bars

Only the rich get rich from gold mining

This wealth from gold is restricted to a few in our country, however. It's because small miners that comprise the Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) sector dominate local gold mining.

ASGM accounts for 70% of the Philippines' gold production, said the planetGOLD program. The remaining 30% goes to the commercial or large-scale miners like Philex Mining Corporation, the largest publicly-held gold and copper producer in the country.  PlanetGOLD is a multi-sectoral program that works to improve ASGM production practices and work environments in nine countries, including the Philippines.

ASGM also employs more than 500,000 miners and provides livelihoods for over two million Filipinos, most of them poor. On the other hand, gold mines are traditionally controlled by local oligarchs and local warlords that either employ ASGM miners or receive payment from miners for the right to mine their land. Hence, the wealth from gold mining stays in the hands of a very few.

There is a difference between "Artisanal" and "Small-scale" mining. The former refers to unorganized mining that doesn't use sophisticated machinery. It uses brawn, muscle power and other rudimentary methods to extract and process minerals and metals on a small-scale. Small-scale mining refers to more organized miners that may or may not use sophisticated machinery. These miners make a lot more money than artisanal miners.

Artisanal miners also frequently use toxic materials -- especially mercury which is a neurotoxin that damages the nerves -- to extract gold from ore using the mercury amalgamation process. This process also releases toxic materials into the surrounding environment, posing dangerous health risks to miners, their families and nearby communities.

Artisanal gold mining is one of the most significant sources of mercury pollution in our country and in other developing countries such as those in Africa.

Yamashita's Gold

The Philippines never runs out of tall tales about fabulous gold hoards with wealth (much of it gold) beyond imagination.

Our Baby Boomer generation (Pinoys born from 1946 to 1964) and Generation X (1965 to 1985) were regaled by the fantastic tale of the multi-million dollar "Yamashita Treasure" said to have been buried in 1945 by the Imperial Japanese Army somewhere in the mountains of North Luzon.

There's also the fabulous "Golden Buddha," a three-foot tall statue said to be made of pure gold discovered in 1971 by treasure hunter Rogelio Roxas. Roxas claimed to have found the Golden Buddha and crates filled with gold bullion that were part of the Yamashita Treasure.

He later filed a lawsuit in Hawaii against former president Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, for the theft of this statue and the treasure he discovered. He also sued the couple for abusing his human rights by ordering his torture.

Roxas, a former soldier, died in 1993. In 1996, his estate and the Golden Buddha Corporation received what was then the largest judgment ever awarded in history -- $22 billion. Interest increased this huge sum even further to $40.5 billion.

The Hawaii Supreme Court in 1998 said there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that Roxas found the treasure and that Marcos stole it.

The court, however, later reduced the award for damages. The final judgment against Imelda Marcos (her husband died in 1989) ordered her to pay the Golden Buddha Corporation $13.3 million while Roxas’ estate was awarded a $6 million judgment on the claim for human rights abuse.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined "The Yamashita Treasure was found by Roxas and stolen from Roxas by Marcos' men."

Fool’s Gold

Millennials and Generation Z have to contend with the even taller tale of "Tallano Gold." The many and massive lies that comprise this scam and conspiracy theory beggar the imagination.

The myth that is the Tallano gold was resurrected by followers of the current president during the presidential campaign of 2022. His supporters insist the wealth of the Marcos family comes from gold bars that were paid to the president's late father by an entity called the "Tallano-Tagean Royal Family."

This fictional family was alleged to have ruled the "Maharlikan Empire" that owned pre-Spanish Philippines and also ruled Sabah, South Borneo, the Spratly Islands and Hawaii. It paid the late president more than 400,000 tons of gold for the legal services he supposedly provided them.

Jose Victor Torres, a professor of history at the De La Salle University Manila, said the Tallano gold is a "historical hoax." This lie has been kept alive by Filipinos that hope to get rich quick despite not being proven by any historical document.

"It's because of money," said Torres in January 2022. "No matter what you say that it's fake or not, pagtitiyagaan talaga iyan ... People are willing to sacrifice the truth for money."

History professor Francis Gealogo, former head of the Department of History at the Ateneo de Manila University, said there are no historical accounts to prove these claims. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself has disavowed the existence of the Tallano gold.

“Walang ginto. Walang ginto,” said Marcos Jr. in February 2022 when asked to confirm if their family owns metric tons of gold and if they’d give it to his supporters.

He previously asserted he hasn't seen the Tallano gold in his entire life. He jokingly said the public should tell him about the location of the Tallano gold.

“Baka may alam sila, sabihan ako," he said. "Kailangan ko iyong gold."