Mining feedback elates Palace

business mirror

TUESDAY, 10 JULY 2012 21:10 MIA M. GONZALEZ AND PAUL ANTHONY A. ISLA

Malacañang described as “encouraging” the generally positive feedback it has received from stakeholders on the issuance of the Aquino administration’s new mining policy, which it believes has set a “clear direction” for the mining industry in the country.

“With the exception of a few hard-line elements, the administration’s reforms in the mining sector have been accepted as a clear direction for mining in the country,” Secretary Ramon Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office said on Tuesday.

He added that with Executive Order 79, “the path has been cleared for environmentally responsible and economically equitable mining activities in the country.”

Carandang said the important thing about the new mining policy is that “a lot of the ambiguity that surrounded mining in the past is gone.”

“Today, because of this, it’s very clear. Certainly, things have to be done but at least it’s very clear where it’s headed, and that provides comfort not just to the mining companies but even to the environmentalists,” he added.

But non-government groups said Executive Order 79 was too good to be true because it “will not terminate destructive, large-scale mining operations affecting farming and fishing communities.”

According to Party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis, the order will not approve pending mining applications but it will not revoke existing mining contracts, agreements and concessions with mining companies in prime agricultural lands and coastal areas.                      

Party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna said the new EO will not make a dent on the allegedly massive destruction of resources and the environment that is supposedly happening.

Australia-based Indophil Resources, however, praised EO 79, saying it addresses the need for detailed direction requiring local government ordinances to be attuned with the Philippine Constitution and national laws.

In 2010, and under pressure from anti-mining and anti-foreign investment lobby groups, the province of South Cotabato, where  the Tampakan deposit is located, adopted a local ordinance that purported to ban open-pit mining.

 Open-pit mining is supposedly the most environmentally friendly and economical method of mining the Tampakan deposit and is a mining method permitted under Philippine national law.

The issuance of the new order is seen as a catalyst to removing the open-pit mining ban in South Cotabato.

Local opposition to mining in Albay province in the Bicol region may shift to a favorable stand with EO 79, Gov. Joey Salceda said also on Tuesday.    source