MANILA, Philippines — An interagency panel will begin a “fact-finding and science-based” review this month covering 26 mines ordered either suspended or shut down by the previous leadership at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Last year, former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez ordered the closure or suspension of 26 operating mines and revoked 75 mining contracts as part of her campaign against what she called “greedy miners” threatening public health and nature.
Twenty-five experts, who will be grouped into five technical review teams, are set to lead the Mining Industry Coordinating Council’s reevaluation of these troubled mining operations.
According to National Economic and Development Authority assistant secretary Mercedita Sombilla, the review should come up with recommendations on mining-related methodologies and procedures to maximize the benefits of mining and avoid damage.
The examination should also provide a list of violations done by mining companies that the DENR alone could not address, as well as the appropriate penalties for such violations.
The experts are likewise expected to recommend measures that could effectively avoid such inefficiencies from repeating.
“The final report will be a consolidated one. We will not see individual reports for each of the mines. It's going to be consolidated. It's going to be general -- the key results that will come out of the 26 mining sites,” Sombilla said.
The Philippines is the world’s biggest supplier of nickel ore and also among the top producers of copper and gold. However, the sector contributes less than 1 percent to the country’s economy.
In his second State of the Nation Address last July, President Rodrigo Duterte warned all mining stakeholders to practice responsible extraction and utilization of resources, or he will tax them “to death.”
He also rejected the MICC’s recommendation to lift the ban on new open pit mines that was enforced by Lopez, who failed to win congressional confirmation after implementing reforms that led to mine closures.
As proposed by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the MICC agreed to conduct another review in 2019 in keeping with the interagency panel's mandate under Executive Order No. 79, which tasks the body to examine all mining operations once every two years.
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