THE government stands to lose about P653 million in revenues from the closure and suspension of some 28 mining companies, the Finance department said Monday night.
Last week, the Department of the Environment and Natural Resurces ordered the closure of 23 mining companies and the suspension of five others for violating environmental laws.
Of the total revenue losses, P441.92 million would come from the affected mining firms while the remaining P211.72 million represented taxes lost.
But Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said it is the local governments in areas where the mining companies operate that would be the hardest hit.
“The national government is going to hurt, but it’s not going to be fatal. But in some municipalities, my gosh, that is the only real income they have,” Dominguez said Monday evening.
Dominguez, as the chairman of the inter-agency Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC), said there will be a fact-finding body on the recent mining results to know whether the laws are followed.
The Finance chief clarified that no Cabinet secretary is against the other on the issue.
“It’s not Secretary Lopez against me, she is the vice chairman of the MICC, I am a member of the climate change cluster so it is not one against the other. It is all of us working together for the benefit of all those people who might experience difficulty. Nobody is challenging her order,,” Dominguez said.
“Im not asking anybody to retreat. All I’ve said, is that my concern and the concern of many members of the Cabinet are the people who might lose their jobs, because frankly most of the jobs are not in locations where you can go across the street and get another job,” Dominguez added.
Dominguez said the the recommendation of Lopez to fully concentrate on eco-tourism as an alternative could be viable, but at some future date.
“Well I am sure that at some point in time it will be viable. How do you make eco-tourism if you cannot get them because there is no road, that there is no pier, that there is no airport, right? We have to build those infrastructure to make sure that it is a viable place to visit that people would like to visit the area. You know it is a question of timing and timing is the most important thing in the world,” he said.
The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines on Tuesday wrote Dominguez and other economic managers to underline the impact of the mine closures and suspensions.
“We have already written to the secretary of Finance regarding the effects of the closure and suspension,” said chamber chairman Artemio Disini.
Disini said the group’s letter highlights the effects of the closures and suspension on the country’s gross domestic product, mining investments, tax revenues, and employment.
“The mining industry’s contribution is more than the GDP indicator in the national accounts as often announced to the public,” Disini said in the letter. In some regions, mining could contribute more than 20 percent to the regional output.
Disini also highlighted the loss of dollar earnings from mineral exports.
The central bank recorded $ 4.04-billion receipts in 2014, and the contribution could have doubled if projects in the pipeline came on stream, Disini said.
Earlier, chamber said the closure and suspension orders would hurt the livelihood of 1.2 million people.
The group also said Lopez should immediately disclose the mining audit reports that were the bases for her closure orders, for the sake of transparency and fairness.
The Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development was scheduled to conduct an inquiry into the government’s transition plan for affected workers on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
“About 20,000 workers are to lose their jobs with the closure of 20 mines,” said the panel chairman, Senator Joel Villanueva. “The government has to make sure that we have a clear transition plan to support these workers and to make sure that the capacity building programs and trainings are provided to help them find new jobs.”
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, meanwhile, assailed Lopez’s decision to close 23 mining companies and to suspend five others, noting that these were practicing “legitimate and responsible mining operations.”
He said Lopez could have been misled by her consultants and former DENR undersecretary and chief of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Leo Jasareno, who headed the audit team. With Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz