Several govs at odds with Atienza over mining issue

DAVAO CITY – Several provincial governors are reportedly seeking the ouster of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza for stripping local officials of the authority to control mining operations.

Compostela Valley Gov. Arthur Uy said the members of the League of Provinces of the Philippines were supposed to pass a resolution demanding Atienza’s dismissal from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources last Friday.

“Cooler heads prevailed. There are some of us who will instead meet with him first. But we really want him out as DENR secretary,” Uy told The STAR.

Uy lamented that Atienza has issued two administrative orders stripping local government units (LGUs) of control over mining operations.

“Instead of devolving these functions to the local government units, Atienza wants everything centralized again. And what does it mean? It means that LGUs would only be involved in mining operations in their areas only when there are landslides, floods and other disasters. But the DENR is out of the picture when tragedy strikes,” Uy said.

Uy said the governors lamented that when Atienza was appointed DENR secretary in August 2007, he immediately issued an administrative order that provides for small-scale mining permits to be issued by the DENR central office in Manila and no longer by the concerned LGUs.

Atienza issued another administrative order that gives DENR officials the authority to issue transport permits for gold ore extracted by small-scale miners, Uy said.

“Those two orders already take the local governments out of the mining activities in their areas and it is only when tragedies and disasters strike that we have to be present but the DENR is nowhere and is not involved at all in whatever search and rescue and even relief operations that would be needed,” Uy said.

Uy said Atienza is actually making life hard for the hundreds of thousands of small-scale miners who work in various mining areas nationwide.

He cited Atienza’s alleged insensitivity to mining concerns after the DENR chief failed to attend the two-day Mindanao-wide mining summit held in this city last weekend.

“Atienza has not even visited Compostela Valley since he assumed as DENR chief. He has not even visited Barangay Masara in Maco when landslides struck two weeks ago,” he added.

Uy said big mining companies should first seek permission from the provincial governments before the DENR issues any exploration permit.

“When I became governor, the first thing that I did was to make an inventory of all the mining areas in Compostela Valley and I found out that almost all (of these areas) have already been eyed by investors from Manila. And it is not fair for the local residents,” he said.