By Rio N. Araja and Maricel V. Cruz
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is aiming to boost the potential of the mining sector to support the country’s economic growth under the Marcos Jr.’s administration through the agency’s ‘Minahang Bayan’ plan.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte on Thursday backed the DENR’s plan to declare more “Minahang Bayan” areas as a more effective means of monitoring small-scale mining operations and better protecting the environment.
Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Jonas Leones said the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau has initially identified approximately nine million hectares as potential mineral areas.
Out of the 9 million hectares of potential mineral areas, only less than 3 percent are awarded as mining contracts, he said.
“Since we are among the most highly mineralized country in the world, our priority is to build both a strategic and responsible industry,” he said.
The DENR would review mining laws, including small-scale mining, to ensure that standards are updated and that the provision of the implementing rules and regulations takes full advantage of remote sensing and innovation in artificial intelligence.
Under the Mineral Investment Promotion Program, Leones said the DENR would address illegal mining, particularly small scale-mining operations through the assessment and declaration of the “Minahang Bayan” areas where small-scale mining would be confined and regulated.
Villafuerte meanwhile said “I am standing four-square behind the reported DENR plan to open up more Minahang Bayan areas for small-scale miners, considering that this is a better way for the government to monitor small-scale mining, do away with small-sized illegal mines and protect the environment while boosting domestic mining.”
Earlier, the DENR bared such a plan just weeks after Villafuerte, the majority leader of the Commission on Appointments (CA), pointed out during the confirmation hearing of DENR Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga that not many Minahang Bayan sites have been declared nationwide since Republic Act (RA) 7076 or the “People’s Small-Scale Mining Act” was declared more than 30 years ago.
Yulo-Loyzaga confirmed to Villafuerte during her CA hearing last Sept. 27 that only 50 Minahang Bayan areas have been recognized thus far since RA 7076 was enacted in 1991.
She also assured Villafuerte that the DENR would work closely with local government units (LGUs) and other concerned agencies in the full implementation of RA 7076 to better regulate this activity and flush out illegal small-scale miners.
Reports said the government is set to declare more Minahang Bayan areas in compliance with RA 7076.
Leones was quoted as saying that, ““If there is already a Minahang Bayan as dictated by the Small-Scale Mining Act, they are limited to that area so we can monitor it and their impact on the environment.”
The DENR undersecretary also claimed they have proposals on reducing the use by small-scale miners of highly toxic mercury in extracting gold in their mine sites.
Villafuerte, meanwhile, stressed, one other thing that the DENR could look into is to streamline the process of business registration under the law in order to encourage small-scale miners to go legit instead of continue engaging in their illicit activity.
To create more jobs and ensure a more equitable sharing of natural resources, RA 7076 was signed into law to develop, protect and rationalize viable small-scale mining in mineralized areas, or those with naturally occurring mineral deposits of gold, silver, chromite, kaolin silica, marble, gravel and clay.
RA 7076 allows the government forge joint venture or mineral production sharing agreements with small-scale miners for mining small plots or mineral lands, mainly relying on manual labor and using simple tools and methods in lieu of explosives or heavy equipment.
To be able to secure mining contracts, these small-scale miners have to first voluntarily form cooperatives duly licensed by the DENR, and their cooperatives must then be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
