posted July 19, 2016 at 11:45 pm by Anna Leah E. Gonzales
The Chamber of Mines of the
Philippines said Tuesday its members are “ready for airtight audit.”
“We welcome a technical,
environmental and social development audit on our members,” said CoMP executive
vice president Nelia Halcon.
Environment Secretary Regina Lopez
earlier said the government would audit the operations of mining companies in
the country.
The audit will look not only on the
regulatory requirements but also on social and economic impact of mining
operations.
Halcon said the audit would reveal
the highly positive and significant contributions of CoMP members on host
communities as most of them were conducting programs and projects beyond
compliance of the Philippine Mining Act and other relevant laws.
“All CoMP members have committed to
the government’s national greening program and have planted 20 million trees
from 2011 to 2014,” Halcon said.
Halcon said most members also
complied with ISO 14001, which contained criteria for environmental management
system.
“Majority of our members are already
ISO 14001 certified and have been submitting timely reports to Mines and
Geosciences Bureau on their operations,” Halcon said.
Halcon said local government units,
non-government organizations and other line agencies conducted quarterly,
semi-annual and annual monitoring.
SDMP is a program which is planned
and budgeted on a five-year cycle. Mining companies are obliged to
allocate 1.5 percent of their total operating costs to social development in
their host and neighboring communities.
Halcon said an inter-agency audit
team from the central office of MGB-DENR also evaluated on a yearly basis the
various aspects of mining operations from safety and health to environmental
and social development programs including solid waste management.
“CoMP assures that our members
continue to adhere to the law and are helping ease the sufferings of our
countrymen where our areas of operations are,” Halcon said.
“This is the reason why we have been
reiterating our call to government to put a stop to irresponsible mining that
affects responsible mining operations. It is the proliferation of these illegal
operations which bring suffering. They do not contribute to the coffers of
government; they do not help in the development of the communities; and are
destructive to the environment,” Halcon said.
Halcon said the chamber remained
confident the audit would be transparent.
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