Published August 7, 2017, 10:01 PM By Madelaine B.
Miraflor
Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu
has issued his strongest statement yet against the miners in the country,
telling them to “comply with the laws or cease operations.”
A recent statement from Department
of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) cited Cimatu saying that mining
companies must comply with all existing mining and environmental laws if they
want their operations to continue.
Cimatu issued this warning as he
promised that from now on, the DENR will be strict in exercising its regulatory
powers to reduce to the minimum the environmental impacts of mining operations
in the country.
“While our laws allow the
exploration of our natural resources, those privileged will have to adhere to
strict rules and regulations, and always focused on the national interest,”
Cimatu said.
“We will punish those who violate
relevant regulations by imposing the highest possible penalties provided by
law,” he added.
According to him, the DENR will
partner with local government units, concerned communities and the private
sector, and mobilize all concerned to pinpoint the culprits and punish them.
Meanwhile, Cimatu assured that the
DENR is conducting a thorough review of an earlier mining audit, which
recommended the suspension or closure of several mining operations.
“We are carefully reviewing each and
every company in accordance with existing laws and, of course, based on fact
and the evidence,” Cimatu said.
He said the DENR properly adheres to
due process and gives all concerned firms and sectors the chance to raise their
concerns.
“We will not be rushed to judgment,”
he further said.
Cimatu’s recent pronouncements came
days after the meeting he had with President Rodrigo Duterte and some
representatives of mining civil society organizations in Malacañang last week.
It was Chamber of Mines of the
Philippines (COMP) vice president Ronald Recidoro who confirmed first that
there was indeed such meeting.
Commenting on the issue, Isidro Consuji,
the chairman and chief executive officer of Semirara Mining and Power Corp.
(SMPC) – the country’s largest coal miner – said he was informed that the
meeting went smooth and cordial.
According to him, the miners were
assured that this administration will not close them down without due process.
A few days ago, the country’s
biggest miners that belong to COMP have been told to “clean up their own ranks”
by one of their members and that they must stop blaming small-scale miners for
being under intense scrutiny now.
Walter Brown, president and chief
executive officer of Apex Mining Company, said his company has already
resigned from COMP, which is the industry organization of mining companies and
of businesses involved in the highly challenged minerals sector.
This developed as Brown expressed
his disappointment and frustration with COMP’s response to President Rodrigo
Duterte’s call for the mining industry to clean up its acts.
A few weeks ago, Duterte was quoted
using colorful language that he will cut off the heads of rich miners if they
don’t repair farms ravaged by mining.
COMP refused to believe that they
are the ones that are being attacked by Duterte and instead condemed illegal
small-scale miners.
“Strict regulation and monitoring by
the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) and the Environmental Management Bureau
(EMB), especially of the small-scale mining sector, will be key to ensuring
that the environment is adequately protected, and that more trees are planted
in mining areas,” said Recidoro.
According to Brown, he does not
agree that the industry should blame the illegal small-scale miners as a
response to Duterte’s pronouncements or when the mining industry is put to task
for perceived destruction of the environment.
“I would rather that the Chamber
regulate its own ranks and discipline its members who do not comply with
existing mining rules and regulations and those who pay lip service to
responsible mining,” Brown said.
“Every organization has its own
share of good members and bad members. But the mining industry is subject to
intense scrutiny now. If we do not clean up our own ranks, all the good will go
down the same drain with the bad, when the industry is taxed to death, as the
President has warned,” he added.
Apex Mining is one of the 13 mines
that passed the DENR’s audit led by former Environment Chief Regina Paz Lopez.
During his second
State-of-the-Nation Address, Duterte also didn’t let the miners off the hook,
warning to tax the sector to death as well as impose a ban on mineral exports.
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