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Friday, March 29, 2024

Duterte’s call for responsible mining backed

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An environment group has voiced its support for President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s call for mining companies to “shape up.”

Philippine Business for Environmental Stewardship secretary general Ysan Castillo said for a country with a rich biodiversity and island ecosystems profile such as the Philippines, there was no place for illegal miners and destructive mining practices.

“We are fully behind President Duterte in admonishing firms to practice responsible mining because it is the only way for us to achieve sustainable development,” Castillo said.

Stratbase ADR Institute president Dindo Manhit said that while the country was well known for its huge mineral potential, inconsistent policies and problems in implementation of existing mining laws had caused a costly stalemate between opposing mining stakeholders on how to manage the rich natural resources.  

“The Duterte government has a great opportunity to correct policy flaws such as Executive Order 79 which stopped a rising momentum of the legitimate mining projects depriving the economy of billions of dollars in lost opportunities in terms of investments, taxes and most important thousands of jobs from direct and indirect employment in far flung areas where development is badly needed,” Manhit said.

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PBEST noted the “injurious effects” of unsustainable mining practices to the country’s natural resources, not to mention the danger to public health and the billions of pesos lost from mineral smuggling.

“The disheartening fact is that illegal and reckless mining affects the most marginalized Filipinos in the rural areas and at the same time deprives the country of much-needed revenues because small mine operators don’t pay the correct taxes,” the group said.

“It is also very encouraging to hear the Chamber of Mines heed the call of President Elect Duterte to actively be part of the solution by practicing self-regulation among their members. Responsible mining, should not be confined to compliance with mining laws and regulations, but should include transparency when it comes to mining revenues that are remitted to the government and spent on community development,” said Castillo.

PBEST is an environmental NGO promoting sound developmental policies and right governance to ensure responsible stewardship of the environment as a requisite in the operations of all industries.

 

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