Government wants more stakeholderson global mining transparency

MANILA, Philippines — The government targets to boost stakeholders participation in the global initiative on extractives transparency as the administration ramps up the potential of the mining sector.

This comes after the Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PH-EITI) convened its first multi-stakeholder group (MSG) meeting under the Marcos administration.

It was early this month when the government re-engaged with the EITI, which prescribes a standard for transparency and accountability in the mining, oil and gas industries.

The MSG – the body that governs EITI implementation in the country – is chaired by the Department of Finance (DOF) and composed of representatives from government, industry and civil society.

During the meeting, the MSG agreed to strengthen spaces for multi-stakeholder participation and advocate for more room along the extractive industry value chain to improve resource governance.

The group also agreed to include an MSG report on the status of civic engagement in the annual country report.

The MSG also agreed to plan the production of the 2021 PH-EITI country report, the 2022 national conference, and the visit of EITI chair and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark to the Philippines in November.

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

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.