The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Wednesday that it has put in place policies that would help protect the environment following DENR’s lifting of the open-pit mining ban.
In a briefing, DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones said that one of their measures to reduce open-pit mining’s adverse impacts on the environment is the progressive rehabilitation of mined out areas, which they are now implementing.
“Hindi natin sila papayagan na mag-expand ng kanilang operation kung hindi nila ire-rehabilitate ‘yung na-disturb na area nila,” he said.
(We will not allow the mining companies to expand their operations if they fail to rehabilitate the areas they disturbed.)
Leones added that through the DENR Administrative Order (DAO) No. 2021-40, which lifts the four-year-old ban on open-pit mining, they have established a Technical Working Group that would assist all the DENR agencies to regularly monitor the compliance of the mining companies to the policy.
“So ang gagawin natin diyan, ‘pag nahuli natin sila na they are not complying strictly with our policies in environmental laws, at sa mga bago nating polisiya sa mining, so talagang hindi tayo mamimili na ipasarado natin ‘yan,” he warned.
(If we catch them not strictly complying with our policies in environmental laws, as well as our new mining policies, we will not hesitate to shut them down.)
By signing the DAO 2021-40, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu overturned his late predecessor, former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez’ DAO No. 2017-10, which banned the mining method for the extraction of copper, gold, silver, and/or complex ores in the country.
Cimatu explained that lifting the ban on open-pit mining would “revitalize the mining industry and usher in significant economic benefits to the country by providing raw materials for the construction and development of other industries and by increasing employment opportunities in rural areas where there are mining activities thereby stimulating countryside development.”
Leones noted that only less than three percent of the mineral resources in the Philippines have been obtained so far. Thus, it would be a big help to the economy should they be able to utilize and harness the other resources.
However, he said that mining companies have to be responsible for doing so. He emphasized that there are conditions and requirements for open-pit mining methods stated in the DAO 2021-40 that would help mitigate its impacts on the environment.
“Dito sa ating DAO, talagang masusi naming pinag-aralan kung ano ‘yung dapat na gawin nila at ano yung mga compliance na dapat nilang sundin para masiguro natin na hindi nila masisira ‘yung ating kapaligiran,” Leones said.
(We have carefully studied our DAO so that mining companies would know what to do and the level of compliance they have to follow so they won’t damage our environment.)