I don't know if I'd say he is anti-mining or anti-Australians.
Here are some excerpts from an article published on his address to the business community in February:
"Mining, the best that I can see now is the Australian standard, just follow the Australian standard. Just take care of the environment," he told members of the Wallace Business Forum.
Peter Wallace, chairman of the Wallace Business Forum, is happy about Duterte's open-mindedness about mining.
“I was particularly pleased to hear that he’s supportive of mining if it’s responsibly done in the way it’s done in Australia rather than just not done at all as we’ve had now, and I think that was very good," he told Rappler.
Here are major ideas he pitched:
Allow mining if environmental laws are strictly complied with (following Australian standard of mining)
Lease out lands and islands for 30 to 50 years to developers
Peace in Mindanao through federalism to allow investments to come in
Quell crime, drugs, and corruption to allow a peaceful business environment
Honor government contracts with companies
Duterte came clean in front of his audience: “I must confess, I’m a lawyer, I’m not familiar with the impact of taxation on the country.”
“We can all see that he’s not an economic expert,” said businessman Ferdinand Santos of Metro Countryside after listening to Duterte’s speech. “But he has a lot of common sense,” he added.
But one thing is for sure: the breaching of government contracts with the private sector "is not going to happen in his administration. The sancity of contracts will have to be honored.
MML Price at posting:
68.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
