TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The provincial government never obtained a loan from any financial institution to be invested into the operation of the Makilala Mining Corporation (MMC), Gov. James Edduba said here recently.
The governor pointed out that it was the government-run Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC) that invested some $76 million or more than PhP4.5 billion to the MMC to support its operations following the issuance of its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) by the environment department several months ago.
“The province never obtained a loan purposely to invest in mining. We do not know why such misinformation is being hurled against us when many people know for a fact that we do not strive to loan for the said investment in mining,” Edduba stressed.
He also clarified that MMC started its exploration of the proposed mine site way back in 2005 when he was not yet the mayor of Pasil town, the host of the company’s mining tenement, thus, it would be again unfair to blame him for allowing large-scale mining in the province.
According to him, the company painstakingly complied with the stringent processes from exploration to the issuance of the requisite free and prior informed consent (FPIC) leading to the issuance of the certificate of pre-condition (CP) by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) that served as one of the bases for the issuance of the mining permit.
Aside from the conditions that were imposed by the host communities prior to endorsing the mining operations in Pasil, part of the conditions was for the company to establish its main headquarters in Tabuk City to ensure that the barangays, municipality and the province hosting the mining operations will directly benefit from the national wealth, business, real property and other taxes that will be paid by the company during its operations.
Edduba stipulated that the company will also be spending around PhP800 million for the construction of a road from Pasil to Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur passing through Boliney, Abra to serve as its access to the Salomague port which is a much shorter route instead of having to use the Sta. Ana port in Cagayan which is more than 250 kilometers from the mine site.
He underscored that the reason why the province made it a condition for the company to establish its main headquarters in Kalinga is that local officials do not want to suffer the problems encountered by Benguet in the past where the provincial government was shortchanged in terms of the national wealth tax paid by various mining companies that operated in its different mineral-rich municipalities.
He emphasized that barangays, municipalities and the province hosting mining operations should immediately be given their respective shares from the national wealth tax so that the concerned local governments can include in their annual budgets such internally generated funds to improve the delivery of basic services and implement high impact development projects that will be instrumental in elevating the status of the said localities.
Under the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, companies developing natural resources must pay the national wealth tax to the national government where 60 percent will remain with the national coffers while 40 percent will be equitably divided among the host barangays, municipalities and province hosting such operations. By Dexter A. See
