Mary Grace Padin (The Philippine
Star) - June 23, 2018 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Four mining
sites out of the 27 earlier ordered closed or suspended by the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) have failed the review conducted by
the inter-agency Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC), the Department of
Finance (DOF) said yesterday.
In an interview, Finance
Undersecretary Bayani Agabin said the initial results of the MICC review showed
that four mining companies scored low based on the benchmark set by the MICC
technical review teams.
The companies were assessed based on
the social, technical, legal, and environmental aspects of their operations.
“They assessed each mine in
connection with the criteria and the benchmarks. The system was such that three
is the highest score, two is minor reforms needed, one is for major reforms.
Zero is not acceptable,” Agabin said.
According to Agabin, four of the
companies scored an average lower than the “passing score” of 1.5.
However, Agabin clarified the
results of the review are not yet final and still subject to change as the
council is still awaiting the technical review teams’ assessment on the
economic aspect of the mining operations.
The official said the economic
review is expected to be finished in about one or two weeks.
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