(The Philippine Star) | Updated April 22, 2017 - 12:00am
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/04/22/1692749/medialdea-gets-backing-vs-gina-over-mining-fund
MANILA, Philippines -
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea yesterday found some support from Rep.
Robert Ace Barbers in his order to suspend the P2-million trust fund that
Environment Secretary Gina Lopez ordered imposed for every hectare of land
disturbed by miners.
“She has to
understand that this is all part of due process. Mining companies appealed to
the Office of the President (OP), therefore, it is only imperative that they be
given immediate relief until the President decides on the petitions,” Barbers
said.
The Surigao
del Norte congressman clarified that Medialdea’s decision to suspend “is not an
opposition to Lopez’s proposed additional mine fund” as the “executive
secretary has jurisdiction over appeals filed with the OP.”
“I firmly believe
that Medialdea deferred the mine fund not because he counters President
Duterte’s policy against destructive mining operations, but because the
petitions center on this controversial trust fund,” Barbers added.
Lopez the other
day slammed Medialdea for “counteracting” her order for mining firms to
set up a P2-million trust fund for farmers affected by destructive mining as a
pre-condition to the removal of stockpiles from mining areas and issuance of
export permits.
The DENR chief
said the Palace official is going against Duterte’s thrust of helping the
poor by allowing mining companies to remove their stockpiles from mine sites
even without paying P2 million in compensation for affected farmers.
“Medialdea has
given a directive to all the mining companies counteracting my order and I’m
really not happy about this at all. He has gone against my order and I don’t
know what he’s thinking,” Lopez told environment reporters in a news
briefing.
Medialdea denied
contradicting Duterte’s stand against destructive mining policies.
“He is
saying that mining companies can go ahead and take the stockpiles and there’s
no need to put money for the farmers. Is that even fair?” Lopez was quoted
saying.
Lopez said that
based on information gathered by her team, mining companies have started
removing their ore stockpiles without giving any amount as a result of
Medialdea’s order.
“Since I gave the
order, my team can stop them (from exporting). But now that Medialdea has
placed the order, I cannot do anything. He counteracted each and every order in
all areas and I can’t do anything about it,” Lopez said.
Lopez, who was
reappointed after being bypassed by the Commission on Appointments (CA) when
Congress went on recess last March 18, added that she has already texted
Special Assistant to the President Bong Go regarding the issue but the latter
has not replied yet.
Sen. Loren Legarda
vowed to fight for her confirmation after Malacañang on Monday announced that
Duterte has reappointed Lopez, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano, Social
Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo and Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial.
“I will support
her (Lopez). I’ve supported her from the beginning. I will continue to support
her. Her heart is in the right place and I hope that my colleagues in the
commission will support her,” Legarda told reporters.
A former news
anchor at the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN, Legarda expects the CA proceedings on Lopez’s
appointment will be difficult even as she appealed to her colleagues in the
bicameral body to consider her appointment.
Duterte will have
to find a replacement for Lopez if the CA opts to bypass her appointment for
the third time using the body’s new “three-strike” rule. Congress resumes
session on May 2.
Over 20 groups and
individuals have filed their formal opposition to Lopez’s appointment to the CA
on various grounds, including grave abuse of authority, ignorance of the law,
as well as graft.
Meanwhile, a
group of environmentalists yesterday expressed support for Lopez’s plan to
engage the New People’s Army (NPA) in her project to make communities in Agusan
del Sur productive.
Clemente Bautista,
national coordinator of Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment
(Kalikasan PNE), said Lopez’s “crusade against big mining, destructive
projects, their apologists in government, can be the foundation of a common
program for environmental protection and rehabilitation towards just and
lasting peace that the Duterte administration and the National Democratic Front
of the Philippines can agree upon and co-implement.”
The group said
President Duterte should also “pursue green talks” with the NDF, saying that
the DENR can take the initiative in crafting a common environmental reform
agenda with the revolutionary forces.
It added that the
Duterte administration should take the cue from Lopez to step up efforts in
garnering support in crafting and implementing a Comprehensive Agreement
on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) with a strong emphasis on environmental
rehabilitation and protection.
The GRP-NDF peace
panels convened a bilateral discussion last April 20 to accelerate the
negotiations over CASER, a pact that mandates both signatory parties to implement
social and economic reform programs on land reform and rural development,
national industrialization and economic development, and environmental
protection and rehabilitation, among others.
“Both the government
and NDFP can implement priority environmental reforms such as the enforcement
of mining closures and suspension orders, the crackdown on illegal and
large-scale fish pens, and the subsequent rehabilitation of affected ecosystems
even before the signing of the CASER,” Bautista explained.
He said the Duterte
administration should pursue more environmental reforms in his government such
as the massive rehabilitation of marine ecosystems, reforestation of denuded
forests, job security and more benefits to government environmental workers,
and providing justice to environmentalists killed and victims of environmental
tragedies.
The group held a mass
action in front of the DENR main office in Quezon City following Lopez’s
pronouncement that she is willing to work with the NPA in developing Agusan del
Sur into an ecological, economic and educational zone or “E3” zone
Lopez said they are
doing an area development plan for the entire Agusan. – With Paolo Romero, Rhodina Villanueva
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