By
Elmer Recuerdo - July 26, 2017
A BIG anti-mining group
is supporting President Duterte’s call for a new mining law and is urging him
to enforce the cancelation and suspension orders issued by former Environment
Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez against 28 mining companies as a critical first
step in addressing the negative impacts of mining.
The Alyansa Tigil Mina
(ATM), a broad alliance of mining-affected communities and civil-society
support groups, is also recommending to Duterte to issue an executive order
declaring a moratorium on all mining applications and operations.
“We expect President
Duterte to issue clear instructions to the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources to strictly enforce the closure and suspension orders against 28
mining companies issued by former Environment Secretary Lopez,” ATM said
in a statement. These orders are still pending and being reviewed by the Office
of the President.
ATM National
Coordinator Jaybee Garganera said his group is opposing the “aggressive
promotion of large-scale mining in the country” and is pushing for a moratorium
on mining, repeal of the 1995 Mining Act, and passage of the Alternative
Minerals Management Bill (AMMB).
In his State of the
Nation Address on Monday, the President warned mining companies to stop its
“unbridled and irresponsible destruction over watershed, forests and aquatic
resources”.
“You have gained much
from mining; we only get about P70 billion a year, but you have considerably
neglected your responsibility to protect and preserve—and even the tax, it’s
about 5 percent—environment for posterity.”
Garganera said he is
expecting the Congress to heed the President’s call to fast-track the enactment
of a new mining law. Several bills have been pending, particularly the AMMB and
the new fiscal regime on mining.
“We will engage the
Duterte administration should they call for a summit of all mining
stakeholders. We are prepared to submit our recommendations,” Garganera said.
“We are ready to confront the mining industry and expose their concept of
‘responsible mining’ is a myth.”
ATM also criticized the
proposal of House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez for mining companies to acquire
a franchise to be granted by the Congress as a potential “conflict of interest”
of many lawmakers.
“Many legislators are
beneficial owners of mining companies, or they were supported by mining firms
during their candidacy,” he added.
Garganera said they
will expose the politicians who have been “compromised by the mining industry”.
“We will oppose their
participation in Congressional hearings regarding the deliberations for a new
mining law,” he added.
He said localized
legislations of “no-go zones” in provinces and legislative districts will be
pursued by green groups in order to contribute to President Duterte’s demands
that local government units do more to protect and conserve the country’s
remaining forests and other natural resources.
“We hope this
government will tread carefully as it pursues federalism and charter change. As
early as now, we register our opposition to changing the economic provisions of
the current Constitution to allow for 100-percent foreign ownership of land and
corporations that will result in further plundering our resources,” the ATM
statement said.
“The Filipino people,
particularly the rural poor, who are severely impacted by destructive mining
operations need more time, opportunities and interaction to fully internalize
and genuinely debate the merits of charter change and the shift to federalism,”
it added.
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