Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) -
September 21, 2018 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The House of
Representatives will approve a bill banning open-pit mining, which has been
blamed for flooding and landslides that have resulted in innumerable deaths.
“We will have a bill expressly
prohibiting open-pit mining. That is a priority of President Duterte,” Speaker
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday in the course of a Ways and Means
Committee hearing on proposed higher taxes and royalties from the mining
industry.
She attended the hearing to push for
a clear ban on destructive mining practices.
Arroyo told her colleagues and
stakeholders that Gloria Tan-Climaco, who had served in her administration when
she was president and is now a mining industry representative, has informed her
that coming up with a proposed new mining law is not a priority of Department
of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez.
“Now, since you’re all here, since
it is not his (Dominguez’s) priority…but it is the President’s priority as he
said in the SONA (State of the Nation Address last July 23), therefore, we will
come up with a mining bill,” Arroyo said.
She said she gave Dominguez time to
submit his own proposals to be incorporated in the House version of the
new mining legislation.
“I will ask the industry, talk to
the DOF, otherwise we make our own…Anyway it’s not your (DOF’s) priority, it’s
only the President’s priority,” she stressed.
Dominguez heads the administration’s
mining industry coordinating council, which has reversed most of the decisions
of former DENR secretary Gina Lopez closing mining companies found engaged in
destructive practices and violating their mineral-sharing agreements with the
government.
Arroyo said the House would adopt
the definition of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of
open-pit mining as contained in Department Administrative Order (DAO) 2018-19
issued by Secretary Roy Cimatu last Aug. 17.
“Once and for all, we will define
what is open-pit mining. I’m sure the industry is aware of DAO 2018-19…that you
are very happy with this,” she said.
She noted that Cimatu was “very
diplomatic” in his issuance as he “didn’t use the word ‘open-pit mining’.”
“Well, I am more straight to the
point. So I would like to incorporate a second portion of our draft bill to
define ‘open-pit mining’ as any violation of DAO 2018-19,” she said.
She said miners would be asked to
comply with Cimatu issuance within a certain period, during which they would
pay an excise tax.
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