BAGUIO CITY – The Chamber of Mines underscored that of its 42-years of its existence, it has always committed to cooperate with government and work with whoever the President appoints as DENR Secretary.
As government’s partner in natural resource development, the chamber gave each Secretary our full support and made available our resources to help achieve their policy agenda.
However, the group claimed Environment Secretary Gina Lopez is not qualified for her desired position because she has shown herself UNFIT and UNQUALIFIED to be government’s lead regulator in natural resource development.
In a strongly-worded statement, the chamber underscored that the group is dealing with someone who does not believe in the Constitution’s mandate for the State to undertake exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources, and as such, has put the government’s partners in minerals development, at a quandary.
“Mining is probably the most misunderstood industry in the country today. Very few people appreciate what we do and what we contribute to the economy. It does not help that our supposed champion—the DENR Secretary-designate—paints the mining industry as environmental rapists that just take what they want and leave nothing but suffering and destruction in their wake,” the chamber’s statement stressed.
The chamber asserted the Mining Act goes to great lengths to ensure that the State retains full control and supervision over all mining activities going on within the country: MPSA applicants must prove that they are financially and technically qualified to engage in mining; All MPSA applications are required to secure the necessary clearances from the following government agencies: the DENR-RO, the FMB, the LMB, and the BMB—all to establish that the proposed project is not within a protected area and is open for mining applications; and all MPSA applicants must secure an ECC from the EMB, an FPIC from IPs, and the endorsement of host LGUs before they can proceed to exploration; even if viable ore is found, MPSA holders must still establish project feasibility, convincing the State that the mining project is worth going into, considering all the environmental and social costs.
According to the chamber, mining companies can’t just go into any area and mine any which way they want. Government, through its various instrumentalities and agencies, most especially the DENR, the MGB, and the local government units are fully aware of the existence of the project, and are tasked with closely monitoring them for compliance with environmental laws, mining regulations, and social development targets. Multi-partite Monitoring Teams led by the LGU and MGB conduct regular monitoring of operations to ensure compliance.
The chamber added if mining companies violate the law, is it not also a case of regulatory failure, where for lack of vigilance, manpower and/or political will, spillage, siltation, and pollution happens?
It asserted the DENR Secretary, as the country’s lead regulator in natural resource development, thus has a duty to enforce the Mining Act strictly and consistently.
The chamber argued if Ms. Lopez does not, or cannot implement the law, particularly on the issuance, monitoring, and regulation of MPSAs, she should not be confirmed as DENR Secretary.
Unfortunately, it appears that she does not know the law. Just yesterday, the chamber witnessed how Ms. Lopez struggled to define what an MPSA was, how it was granted, and what grounds were proper for its cancellation. Worse, she even claimed Presidential powers by declaring that she can prohibit mining even in non-proclaimed watersheds.
In July 2016, Ms. Lopez said that adherence to ISO14001 was compliance with the highest standard of responsible mining. She then proclaimed that she will require ISO14001 compliance for all mining companies. When she found that the majority of the mining firms were already certified, she disregarded this international standard and instead ordered a mining audit according to her own standards. She was perhaps unaware, or did not care, that her audit was already a quadruplication of existing monitoring processes.
But even before her mine audit started, she was already quoted by a major broadsheet as saying, “I do suspect that we’ll probably close more mines given the number of complaints.” She made similar statements on various occasions pre-empting and prejudging the results of the audit, predicting the closure of many mining operations even without seeing the audit reports.
By HENT
