DENR’s transgressions

We just heard of the sad news that Sagittarius Mining Inc. (SMI) had to let go of a huge number of its employees, leaving just a skeletal workforce to oversee its Tampakan copper-gold project which has yet to take off.

While the project already has an environment compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the latter nevertheless has said that the South Cotabato provincial government, which banned open pit mining in 2010, still has the last say. If only the DENR had put its foot down and asserted its authority in deciding when it comes to mining. After all, we still have the Mining Act which is supposed to support sustainable mining activities.

The unfortunate fate suffered by SMI has tolled down heavily on the ability of the Philippine government to put the country on the international mining map.

Another hapless victim of the DENR’s alleged incompetence is the wood industry. In February 2011, the President issued Executive Order no. 23 imposing a moratorium on logging in the natural and residual forest nationwide. The EO mandated the DENR to review and evaluate all existing forestry agreements and immediately cancel those that violated the contractual terms and conditions and existing national laws, rules and regulations.

The EO’s objective is laudable indeed. But instead of zeroing in on the root of the problem of illegal logging and promoting forest protection and sustainable forest management, the DENR has transgressed and concentrated on seizure of illegally cut logs. Consequently, legitimate holders of logging licenses, who operate within DENR rules, were adversely affected as they were ordered to remove their machineries and equipment from their concession areas.

More than two years after the issuance of EO 23, legal licenses have yet to be reviewed resulting in billions in losses, thousands of jobs lost, and huge foregone investment opportunities. Meantime, illegal logging remains unabated.

And third, we have the controversy involving the Philippine Forest Corp. (Philforest), the agro-forestry arm of the DENR.

The 2009 agreement between the Philforest and 10 other companies allowed for awardees to develop parts of the 40,000 hectares of pasture and grazing land in the Busuanga and Coron municipalities in Palawan. New San Jose Builders, Inc., a company owned by a brother-in-law of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., was among the awardees who were allowed to lease of 2,000 of the 40,000-hectare property.

By delaying the cancellation of the contracts, it appeared that the DENR was protecting the interest of at least one of the awardees, but by unceremoniously cancelling the agreement, the rights of parties under the contract were likewise violated.

Now, Philforest has also been implicated in the multi-billion pork barrel scam as it was reportedly a conduit to funnel more than P400 million worth of PDAF to fake non-governmental organizations.

It is about time that the DENR, and Secretary Paje for that matter, address these issues squarely instead of dodging bullets all the time.

Biz Bits

Our sources say that JLN Group owned by the now-incarcerated Janet Lim Napoles is indeed a member of the Manila Golf Club since 2008. That’s easily P40 million. But she has never been seen at the prestigious golf club. Observers say that she, would of course, rather have her parties held at the family mausoleum at Heritage Park in Taguig. While Napoles is a member, world boxing champ Manny Pacquiao is not, after his application for membership was blackballed. Of course, Manny had to get back the money he paid for the golf club membership. The same sources say they are not so worried about Manny being a member. They are more worried that if Manny becomes a member, Mommy Dionisia and her amigas will be holding their ballroom dancing sessions at MGC.

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