Manila Times update on Dipidio, page-14

Its not incomprehensible at all. To understand Duterte you have to invest time, energy and effort understanding the political economy of the Philippines. Unless you are prepared to do that the Philippines will remain opaque.

There is absolutely nothing in the chart from which to divine how this is going to turn out. I can assure you plenty is happening regarding this matter, it is just that it is blended into existing political structures that are nothing like we in the West understand. You need to recognise that OGC is culpable too, they are not free from responsibility for finding themselves in this position. The opposition to their presence is over a decade old now. Too often foreign investors like to shield themselves behind local political forces that can dissolve in an instant. They dissolve very often because the foreign company simply does not understand them. They then whine and whinge demanding this country lives up to our standards when while in this country they did not live up the standards they are obliged to meet in their own countries.

Reality is a bitch. Frankly, I have little sympathy for OGC and I own a lot of their stock. This did not need to happen if they had have bothered to understand the world they exist in. Their management strikes me as particularly unsophisticated. Rolling out the employees in their clean Ocanagold uniforms smacks of amateur hour and some successful public relations hack suckering OGC. Filipinos will see it as the propaganda that it is. Its a shame because those jobs are real and the incomes they generate will support many, many more people.

I'm not in the Philippines now, so I cant say if OGC is being outmaneuvered. The truth is if OGC lose the mine at Dipidio will not disappear, its too lucrative for that. It will be re-assigned to someone else and will probably employ the same people OGC is thrusting before us as being impoverished if they lose it. It will, however, discourage many others assessing mining projects in the Philippines. But Duterte is pivoting to China and perhaps he thinks he can afford to ignore those who, in the Philippines, are so used to having their demands met. Now that is a much more interesting question.