Philippines rejoins transparency initiative on mining

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has rejoined the global initiative on extractives transparency, just two months after the previous administration withdrew its commitment, as the new government moves to ramp up the mining sector.

The Marcos government has re-engaged with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which prescribes a standard for transparency and accountability in the mining, oil and gas industries.

In June this year, then finance chief Carlos Dominguez decided to withdraw from EITI amid questionable metrics and procedures for assessing the compliance of implementing countries.

In his letter to EITI chair Helen Clark, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno noted the value of good governance and anti-corruption measures in maximizing the extractive sector’s contribution to resource mobilization and sustainable economic growth.

This comes after Clark invited Diokno to restate the country’s commitment to the EITI and build on the progress that the Philippines has achieved in the past years.

The Philippines has been implementing the EITI since 2013. In 2016, the EITI recognized the country for its impactful implementation.

Diokno said the EITI would complement the administration’s agenda on transparency and accountability.

The Department of Finance chairs the Philippine EITI, a multistakeholder body that governs the implementation of EITI in the country.

“We believe that EITI is an important tool for resource-rich countries like the Philippines to improve transparency and increase accountability in the management and governance of the extractive industries,” Diokno said.

Extractive companies in implementing countries are engaged to publicly disclose data on taxes, royalties and other payments they make to the government and their host communities.

Annual disclosure of contracts, financial, economic, social and environmental data is also mandatory for extractive industries.

To date, the PH EITI has produced seven country reports, covering data from mining, oil, gas and coal industries and reconciling over P362.5 billion in government revenues from extractive projects from 2012 to 2019.

In 2017, the Philippines was recognized by the EITI as the first among over 50 countries globally to have fully complied with the 2016 EITI standard.

The Marcos administration is moving to ramp up the mining industry in the Philippines as part of its plan to grow the economy amid the pandemic.

Mining has been contributing less than one percent to the country’s gross domestic product. The Duterte administration has been generally cold to the sector.

It was only toward the end-2021 when former president Rodrigo Duterte gave a much needed boost in revenue generation for the industry with the lifting of a four-year old ban on open pit mining.