Machiavellian Tactics

THERE are hidden persuasion in business and politics that are used to thwart competition or manipulate the thought. Niccolo Machiavelli founded this principle and become the adviser of the Florentine Republic in the 16th century. Today, some Machiavellian theories are applied in the subliminal simulation to discredit a cause exposed by a Prince of the Church to the extent of even linking other hierarchy of the Catholic Church as shareholders and investors in the mining business.

Wednesday’s headline of a local paper (not this Business paper) reads “Tabor links bishops to big mining firms”. Mired with public opinion on the inability of City Hall to stop hydraulic gold mining in the upper deltas of Iponan River, some aldermen in the majority party are moving mud to cover their years of neglect to the environmental degradation of the Iponan River. Sideswiping the issue and confusing the public between legal and illegal mining is diversionary.

Of course, anyone can invest in any mining company offering shares of stocks in the capital market and traded at the Philippine Stock Exchange. The Iponan mining issue is the hydraulic open pit excavation that does not have the matrix of endorsement to the DENR for the issuance of the Environmental Clearance Certificate duly certified by the Barangay of Iponan which is at bar. It is not Mr. Manny V. Pangilinan’s Philex Mining or the mines in Zamboanga or Surigao which has legitimate concessions.