By Rhodina Villanueva (The
Philippine Star) | Updated August 14, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - The Department
of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is set to come out with a website
where all audit findings concerning mining companies will be made public, its
top official said.
“That website will be interactive.
Everything will be made transparent. We’ll be doing, either big or small
companies, DENR Secretary Gina Lopez said.
Apart from mining permits issued to
companies, all the environmental compliance certificates will also be subjected
to audit and review. We will not be selective,” she added.
Lopez also plans to put up her own
blog to document and discuss the audit being done by the department, as well as
other activities of the DENR.
She reiterated the DENR would not
hesitate to shut down all mining operations that will be found to have violated
environmental and health and safety laws and regulations.
“If you break the law, you face the
consequences of breaking the law. Whatever the law says that’s what we should
follow. If you break the law, there are penalties,” Lopez said.
So far, the DENR has suspended
operations of 10 mining companies. The three which were recently suspended
include the Bulacan-based Ore Asia Mining Development Corp., and Mt. Sinai
Exploration Mining and Development Corp. and EMIR Mineral Resources Corp. both
in Homonhon, Eastern Samar.
Ore Asia reportedly failed to secure
an ISO 14001 certification.
On the other hand, Mt. Sinai, which
mines chromite, caused siltation of the coastal waters and failed to practice
engineered mining methods while the nickel-producing EMIR Minerals has also
reportedly caused siltation of coastal waters.
The DENR intends to finish the audit
of all 42 metallic mines within the month.
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