ENVIRONMENT Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez said suspended mining companies should employ displaced mine workers in the rehabilitation areas affected by their operations.
Lopez had ordered Senor Undersecretary Leo L. Jasareno to make sure none of the mine workers would be laid off in case of suspension of operations.
A former director of the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), Jasareno is Lopez’s designated point man for mining and environmental management.
He also led the 16 audit mine teams that evaluated the 41 operating metallic mines.
Lopez wants to make sure that the workers will not end up losing their bread and butter by making sure that they are utilized in the conduct of the mine rehab as a condition of the suspension order.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has so far ordered the suspension of 10 large-scale operating mines and issued show-cause orders to 20 others that failed the audit it conducted in August.
Asked by the BusinessMirror about the fate of the workers in case of suspension, Lopez reiterated her commitment to the people in areas affected by mining, as well as workers who are facing possible suspension.
“No, the workers won’t lose their jobs. It will be part of the order. They [mining companies] must hire those people to rehabilitate the mines,” she said.
In a meanwhile, Lopez said the department is looking at replicating a biochar project used in Zambales as a tool for mine rehabilitation in various parts of the country.
Biochar is a type of charcoal produced by burning only a small amount of oxygen.
This enables the carbon to be absorbed by the plants and prevent it from accumulating in the atmosphere.
Last week Lopez met with executives of mining companies to propose a much viable sustainable livelihood program that will benefit the communities where their projects operate.
During the meeting, Lopez presented her models of ecotourism sites to give the mining executives some ideas on how to help communities get out of poverty.
Lopez earlier vowed to tap the displaced mine workers for the National Greening Program (NGP), the government’s massive forest-rehabilitation program.
“From Day One, NGP partners will earn from producing and selling planting materials. We will buy the seedlings from them. They will make money,” Lopez said.