(The Philippine Star) | Updated
August 2, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Follow
regulations or get buried in your mining pit.
President Duterte issued this stern
warning to mining firms yesterday as he vowed to be tough on businesses that
are destroying the environment and violating government standards.
“If you refuse to obey, I will place
you inside the mining pit and cover it. You want to try it, fine. Let’s do it,”
the President told a press briefing at Malacañang.
Duterte said he was ready to forgo
revenues being generated from mining companies as the country could survive
without them.
“You only give me P40 billion each
year. I can do away with the P40 billion. I will shutter you all. You obey or
we will survive as a nation without you,” he said.
Duterte also scored the mining firms
for “destroying the land” and for criticizing Environment Secretary Gina
Lopez’s strict implementation of mining regulations.
“Lopez has my full support. So stop this
nonsense of discrediting her because I won’t believe you a bit,” the President
said.
“She (Lopez) is not incompetent, she
is a bright lady. And she is simply a crusader,” he added.
Duterte said he would tap the
military and police to shutter erring mining firms. He said mining operations
resulted in landslides in some areas.
“You say mining is a critical
component of the Philippine economy, of course it is, it’s income. But you are
also making a critical damage,” he said.
Marcopper Mining Corp., the company
that spilled mine and toxic wastes into the Boac River in 1996, has yet to
fully clean up its mess, Duterte said.
“Oligarchs forge partnerships with
foreigners and they get rich at the expense of our native land. Do not do it. I
will not allow it,” the President noted.
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