WITH Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez’s order to close or suspend operating mines and cancel 75 mining contracts, the debate over the issue of mining in the Philippines is far from over.
While initially supporting Lopez on the decision of the closure of 23 operating mines and suspending five others, President Duterte later admitted that Lopez “messed up” on her decisions, which warrant a careful review.
Upon Duterte’s instruction, the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC), which Lopez co-chairs along with Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, has started the review process. The process would take into account the potential economic impact of closing down large-scale operating mines.
Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers of the Second District of Surigao del Norte, who called for an investigation into the mine closure orders, said the review will take at least three months.
Fighting for its life and mining’s constituents, mining industry’s big players, represented by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (Comp), vowed to fight Lopez. The people behind Comp said the eventual closure of 28 of the 41 operating mines will have severe impact on the economy. They added Lopez’s decision condemns to hunger and poverty 1.2 million people in various parts of the country.
However, Lopez said her decision is final and only the President has the authority to reverse her closure orders.
Marcopper disaster
LOPEZ said her decision aims to protect the country’s watersheds against the adverse impact of mining operations.
She said the destruction caused by irresponsible mining threatens the country’s source of water, citing the 1996 Marcopper mining disaster in the province of Marinduque.
Lopez said the disaster has led to the death of rivers. The Marcopper tragedy remains one of the largest mining disasters in the country’s history.
Reports said a fracture in the drainage tunnel of a large pit containing leftover mine tailings led to a discharge of toxic mine waste into the Makulapnit-Boac river system and caused flash floods in areas along the river.
One village, Barangay Hinapulan, was buried in 6 feet of mud. About 400 families were displaced and 20 other villages had to be abandoned.
Lopez noted that the drinking water was contaminated, while fish and other food in the river vanished.
In terms of toxicity, the Marcopper mining disaster was the worst in the country’s history.
The Boac River was declared “biologically dead”.
“Until now, there is no fish in the river,” Lopez said.
Mines blamed
ANOTHER mining disaster was the leak from Tailings Pond 3 at the Padcal mine operated by Philex Mining Corp. in Tuba and Itogon, Benguet, on August 1, 2012. Over 20 million tons of mine tailings sediment were dumped into the Agno River and Balog Creek. The contamination reached and affected the San Roque Dam.
In terms of volume, it was the country’s worst mining disaster.
The government slapped Philex Mining with over P1 billion in fines. After settling the fine, Philex was allowed to resume operation by the DENR in 2014.
Along with 11 other mining operations, Philex’s Padcal mine passed the mine audit, even though Lopez said the closure and suspension orders, as well as the cancellation of mining contracts, are preventive measures to protect watersheds.
In Zambales mining’s adverse impact to the environment claimed the lives of seven people, according to Lopez. She also blamed the most recent flooding that hit Agusan provinces to logging and mining activities.
In Surigao destruction is happening from “ridge to reef”, with Lopez showing aerial photos and videos showing the discoloration of rivers and coastal areas in Surigao provinces.
An official Twitter account of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) blamed mining for the disastrous earthquake that left six people dead, a pronouncement that experts said is “untrue” and lacks scientific basis.
Death, destruction
ACCORDING to Lopez, the massive destruction of ecosystems in mining tenements—the massive cutting of trees, blasting of mountains, the digging and hauling to extract mineral ores—are to blame for the siltation of rivers, as well as degradation of coastal environments that affect agricultural and fishery production. People suffer because of these.
Before announcing the cancellation of MPSAs on Valentine’s Day—her “gift of love”, Lopez defended the order to close large-scale mines.
The DENR chief said mining rakes huge profit at the expense of the environment. Lopez also blames mining for the war in Mindanao.
“You take away their land, you take away their resources, you take away their livelihood,” she said. “That is why there is war in Mindanao.”
Environment and human-rights groups have been blaming mining for militarization, killings and human-rights abuses in mining areas.
Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) said many of the extrajudicial killings (EJK) that took place under the Duterte administration involve activists fighting destructive mining companies.
The killings took place from July 1, 2016, to January 20, 2017.
The victims were identified as Gloria Capitan, Makinit Gayoran, Jimmy Saypan, Joselito Pasaporte, Mario Cantaoi and Veronico Lapsay Delamente.
The list excludes EJKs involving antimining advocates, Kalikasan-PNE said.
Arbitrary, lacking due process
AT a news conference on February 3, a day after Lopez announced the closure order, COMP Chairman Art Disini and Vice President for Policy and Legal Ronald Recidoro condemned Lopez’s decision.
They said the decision was “arbitrary” and ignored due process. Disini and Recidoro said Lopez set aside the findings and recommendation of the mine audit teams, denied mining companies the right to make the necessary corrective measures or even challenge the findings of the mine audit.
According to Recidoro, many of their members have yet to receive the closure order or the audit reports detailing the violations committed.
“We want to know what led to the DENR chief’s decision to issue closure orders. Mining companies want to know their violations,” Recidoro told reporters. “If they violated the Clean Water Act, what is the basis? If it’s the Clean Air Act, we want to know what corrective measures can be done to address the problem.”
Recidoro said some companies are protesting in disbelief that they failed the mine audit, even with representatives of antimining civil-society organizations (CSOs) joining the team that inspected the mines.
Lopez had said some of the findings appeared to ignore the grave violations committed by mining companies and recommended mere slap-in-the-wrist penalties and fines.
COMP said that most, if not all its members, have acquired ISO 140001 certification, indicating that it passed the highest environmental standards for mining.
According to COMP, Lopez’s questionable decision to close the mining operations will directly affect 20,000 employees.
Standing pat on her decision, Lopez promised to help those who stand to lose their jobs by implementing area development that will provide green jobs in mining-affected communities.
She added it is her duty to protect the country’s freshwater supply for present and future generation, as mandated by the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, which is also enshrined in the Constitution.
Roots in Surigao
SURIGAO del Sur and Surigao del Norte are among the areas that stand to be affected by Lopez’s closure orders.
Richly endowed with metallic minerals, such as copper, gold, chromite, cobalt, nickel and lead zinc, Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte are also endowed with nonmetallic minerals, like limestone, coal and feldspar, clay diamotite/bentomite and coarse or fine aggregates.
Along with Dinagat Islands, which used to be part of Surigao but now an independent province, Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte have been besieged by mining for decades.
Ironically, Lopez said mining failed to improve the lives of the people. Surigaonons remained poor despite mining.
“They have been mining in those areas for 77 years. This has to stop,” Lopez said. “I want to give Dinagat a rest.”
Mining operations on Dinagat Islands and Surigao provinces were among the 23 large-scale mining operations ordered shuttered by Lopez. These are mines being operated by Aamphil Natural Resources Exploration; Kromico Inc.; SinoSteel Philippines H.Y. Mining Corp.; Oriental Synergy Mining Corp.; Wellex Mining Corp.; Libjo Mining Corp.; Oriental Vision Mining Phils. Corp.; Adnama Mining Resources Corp.; Claver Mineral Development Corp.; Platinum Development Corp.; CTP Construction and Mining Corp.; Carrascal Nickel Corp.; Marcventures Mining and Development Corp.; and Hinatuan Miing Corp.
Small-scale mining activities also take place in Surigao municipalities of Barobo, Carmen and San Miguel.
Mining evolution
MINING and the administration of mining activities in the Philippines date back during the Spanish era, from small-scale artisanal gold mining or gold panning to large-scale, open-pit mining method.
According to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the DENR, the country’s mining regulatory agency, the first mining measure was Inspeccion General de Minas, which saw the creation of an office that took charge of the administration and disposition of minerals and mineral lands.
The office, however, was abolished on July 1, 1886. Its functions and personnel were merged with the General Directorate of Civil Administration, according to an article posted on the MGB web site, which narrates the history of the bureau.
Like other areas, mining in Surigao can be traced back to the promulgation of the Commonwealth Constitution reverting the Regalian Doctrine—which particularly asserts that minerals belong to the State and their disposition, administration, exploitation and development shall be done through license, concession or lease.
On November 7, 1936, Commonwealth Act 136 and Commonwealth Act 137 were enacted. The former created the Bureau of Mines, while the latter, otherwise known as the Mining Act of 1936, was actually the first major mining law.
As mining evolved, laws evolved, as well, through the years.
Presidential Decree (PD) 463 (Mineral Resources Decree of 1974) aims to provide for, among others, a modernized system of administration and disposition of mineral lands and to promote and encourage the development and exploration of the mining industry.
PD 463 was later revised by PD 1385 and PD 1677.
On June 6, 1978, PD 1281 was promulgated revising Commonwealth Act 136 boosting the Bureau of Mines with additional tasks, as well as authority to make it more responsive to the objectives of the government for its minerals sector.
A year after, some sections of PD 1281 were amended by PD 1654 to include renaming the Bureau of Mines as the Bureau of Mines and Geosciences.
The passage of Republic Act 7942, otherwise known as the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, on March 3, 1995, paved the way for the mining liberalization policy in the Philippines.
A Supreme Court decision on February 1, 2005, further galvanized the constitutionality of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 in a case questioning foreign investment in mining. In particular, the Court noted the Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement the Philippine government signed in 1995 with the Western Mining Corp. of the Philippines.
A separate law applies to small-scale mining. RA 7076, signed on June 27, 1991, provides for the creation of “Minahang Bayan” to be governed by the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board.
Economic potential
THE Philippines has a total land area of 30 million hectares, with over 9 million hectares identified as having high mineral potential. Around 811,000 hectares, or 2.7 percent, of the country’s total land area are covered by mining tenements. This went down to approximately 740,000 hectares as of January this year.
Two years ago, the MGB reported that exports of minerals, which include copper, gold and nickel, reached close to $2.8 billion, with Japan, Australia, Canada and China as major destination countries.
Mining employs around 236,000. According to the MGB, it is conservatively assumed that for every job in the mining industry, about four indirect jobs may be generated by the mining industry.
In 2015 taxes paid by the mining industry to national and local governments, including royalties, reached P25.78 billion.
As of August last year, mining companies have committed P13.15 billion through various Social Development Management Programs (SDMP) for host communities that will benefit a total of 767 barangays.
Gross value added, or the industry-wide value of goods and services, at current prices in 2015 is pegged at P80.9 billion.
The country is rich with minerals such as gold, copper and nickel. In 2015 estimated gold produced is P35.33 billion; nickel and nickel products, P54.90 billion; and copper, P18.98 billion.
Losses
THE COMP said that because of inconsistent policy, mining investment in the Philippines went down.
It estimated that around $22 billion, or P1.1 trillion, in potential investment will be lost because of uncertainties in mining regulatory policies, from the time Executive Order 79 was signed by former President Benigno S. Aquino III to the closure or suspension of 28 of the 41 operating mines and cancellation of 75 MPSAs and one FTAA.
According to Lopez, mining contribution to the Philippines is not enough to cover for the economic losses. Last year mining’s contribution in terms of GDP, or the total goods and services produced in the Philippines, is a measly 0.9 percent.
Mining-exports receipts are pegged at $2.8 billion, or only 4.8 percent of total exports, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Mining companies claim that they provide the good life to employees with high-paying salaries and a package of nonfinancial benefits, including housing, health, education for their children, clothing and even rice subsidy, which Recidoro said are a lot better than planting mangroves and bamboo, or serving as ecotourism guides as suggested by the DENR chief.
Green economy ‘better’
LOPEZ insists that the Philippines is better off with a “green” economy, where people will benefit and not suffer from mining.
The official said that, compared to mining, ecotourism offers better economic opportunities, in terms of jobs and livelihood.
“Mining is not labor-intensive,” Lopez said. “It is capital-intensive.”
Lopez said a 2014 government report stated that mining created 235,000 jobs all over the country, while tourism has resulted in 4.7 million jobs.
While admitting that mining provided jobs and livelihood, Lopez argued that, although many benefit from mining, several times more that number suffer.
She vowed to transform mining areas into ecotourism sites, with the promise of infusing National Greening Program (NGP) funds and using mining companies’ funds for SDMP to boost jobs and livelihood anchored on the protection and conservation of the environment and natural resources.
She said that within 18 months, she can get the people out of poverty, with those employed getting as much as P7,000 to P10,000 a month from various ecotourism activities.
Fragile environment
THE DENR chief said the Philippines is highly vulnerable to climate change, and irresponsible mining is making the already fragile environment more fragile and prone to disasters.
Lopez has the habit of showing aerial photos and videos of rivers and lakes—showing the beauty of the areas before mining, and the horrifying picture during and after mining activities, particularly in Surigao provinces.
Mining severely affected Surigao’s forests, rivers and coastal areas, Lopez said, and the destruction will not stop unless mining activities stop.
A known critic of the open-pit mining method, Lopez said 95 percent of mining companies practice open-pit mining—which, mining experts say, is the fastest, safest and most efficient way of extracting mineral ores. Open-pit mining causes massive destruction of forest ecosystems—as forests are shaved, mountains flattened, and the digging and hauling continue, until huge bowl-like holes are formed.
Citing the potential damage of the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project which Lopez stiffly opposes, she said forests, watersheds and highly productive agricultural areas the size of 700 football fields will be devastated once proponents of potentially the biggest gold-mining project begin commercial operation.
“That area is the food basket of Mindanao,” Lopez said. “There are rivers and farms in those areas.”
Lopez said miners explode dynamites to tear down mountains or in digging holes to fast-track the extraction of mineral ores.
Mining, earthquakes
SURIGAO is prone to floods, landslides and other geological hazards, such as earthquakes.
While mining may actually trigger earthquakes, experts say that irresponsible mining may exacerbate the effects of geological hazards, such as flooding and landslides.
Renato Solidum of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said mining does not trigger earthquakes.
“Mining has no relation to the earthquake in Surigao,” the Phivolcs director said. “It did not trigger the earthquake.”
Asked if there is a possibility that mining may worsen earthquakes, Solidum said: “No. Hindi ganun ’yun dapat tignan.”
“Remember that fault movement cannot be triggered by mining activity. But fault movement can cause ground shaking and ground shaking can cause either landslide and other hazards. I think the question that you need to look at would be how mining activity can exacerbate the hazards that can happen during earthquake events. Kung rain ’yan, madali lang. Loose slopes can be eroded by rain. Sediments can go to the river and it goes down to the sea,” he said.
He said even the blasting of dynamites or other explosive devices during mining cannot trigger earthquakes.
“It can cause shaking but the shaking is localized,” Solidum explained.
A geologist at the Land Survey Management Division of the MGB, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the BusinessMirror that earthquakes are either related to tectonic or volcanic activity.
“Activities related to mining, like blasting, are limited to ground shaking over a small area, not wide areas, where the impact will be great,” the source explained.
Mining exacerbates geohazards
THE person familiar with the matter said surface activities may cause destabilization of ground surface. This, the source said, can exacerbate geohazards like landslides.
However, the source said that most of the time, such as in large-scale mines, engineering intervention prevents landslides from happening.
“In large-scale mining, in some cases, if mining activity is not carried out, landslides can happen,” the geologist said.
Engineering intervention in mining includes slope stability, so as not to disrupt the operation.
The source said MGB has monitoring teams that undertake environmentally social activities related to mining, to make sure that mining companies are compliant.
Threat to biodiversity
THE master planners of the 18 major river basins commissioned by the River Basin Control Office (RBCO), a unit under the DENR, also identified mining among the major threats to Philippine rivers.
Theresa Mundita S. Lim of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) said that, while rehabilitation is possible, the extensive damage of open-pit mining leads to irreversible biodiversity loss, considering the Philippines is rich in endemism, particularly site-endemic species of animal and plant wildlife.
“When you cut trees and haul soil, you kill forests, which are home to threatened species,” Lim said.
Even the nutrients in soil taken out in the extraction of mineral ores, she said, are important to the growth of plant species that thrive in a particular area.
The DENR chief has included biodiversity consideration in the recent mine audit, leading to the cancellation of environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) and closure or suspension of mines, because of the threat of causing biodiversity loss.
Responsible mining
LOPEZ clarifies she is not anti-mining and not against the mining industry, per se.
“I am only against irresponsible mining,” she said.
Experts agree that irresponsible mining may cause irreversible damage to the environment.
While Lopez ordered the closure of 23 and suspended five others, 12 large-scale operating mines passed the mine audit. On that account, based on the strict mine audit criteria, which include environmental, social and biodiversity consideration, those that passed the audit qualify Lopez’s standard as “responsible miners”.
Antimining groups under the Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), however, said responsible mining is not possible at this time.
“First, there is no legal definition that can set parameters on how responsible mining can be done, much less how this can be measured whether in terms of compliance or best practice,” ATM National Coordinator Jaybee Garganera said.
Garganera said responsible mining can only be operationalized if mining is done in the context of other laws that are enforceable. He cited these as the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) Local Government Code, National Integrated Protected Areas System Act and the Afma.
Garganera added that mining cannot rely solely on the implementation of the mining law.
“If there is land conflict between mining law and other laws, responsible mining is difficult, unless these conflicts are resolved.”
Garganera also pointed out that responsible mining framework is a multistage process, based on the COMP model.
“What CoMP is not saying is that the model has not been completed in a single mine site. Steps 1 to 4 were done in Australia, [while] steps 5 to 8 were done in Africa. Steps 9 to 12 were done in Canada.”
He said not one mine has proven the hypothesis of their responsible mining model.
“Responsible mining was a fallback position of the mining industry after it failed to defend the concept of sustainable mining,” Garganera said. “Global environmental groups shot down this concept.”
He said responsible mining is only possible if there is a clear national industrialization plan. This plan, he said, should be able to tell us what minerals we need to industrialize, how much of these minerals we need to fuel our industrialization and when do we need these minerals.
“After we have clear answers to these, only then do we talk ‘where’ do we get these minerals, or where we will allow mining?,” Garganera said. “This is not only responsible mining; this is also rational mining.”
Cost-benefit analysis
LOPEZ said the DENR is doing cost-benefit analysis of mining operations using total economic value (TEV) as model.
This way, Lopez said, ecosystems services will be fully accounted in weighing the cost as against the benefit of mining in a particular area.
The TEV teams from Palawan State University, Bicol University and Mindoro State College of Agriculture and Technology, who are experts in various disciplines, came up with the conclusion that the benefits of mining are minimal.
In the Bicol study, which focused on the operation of the Perlite mining in Legazpi City, Lopez said that after 40 years of mining, the poverty rate remains high at 45 percent. The poverty rate in the two barangays where there is ongoing mining is higher at 58 percent.
Legazpi City generates from mining an annual revenue of P22,000, which includes the P20,000 real property tax and around 2,000 from special education fund.
Out of 12,000 households, only 18 people are employed by the mining company, she said.
Total benefits in terms of employment, social development program, taxes and multiplier effect of the SDMP reached only P22.7 million. The costs, which include agricultural resources, coastal and marine resources, forest resources, health impact, tourism, soil erosion and “option value”, reached P169 million.
In Palawan, which focused on the operation of Citinickel mine in Barangay San Isidro, Narra town, total benefits in terms of employment, SDMP, IP royalties and taxes reached P151 million. But because of the effect of mining, the costs exceeded the benefits because of the dwindling fish catch, damaged coral reef and health costs, Lopez said.
In Oriental Mindoro, which focused on the operation of a nickel mining company in Naujan town, total projected benefit is pegged at P4.7 billion, as against the relevant costs totaling P5.3 billion.
COMP’s Recidoro, in previous discussions with the BusinessMirror, questioned the TEV modality, saying the benefits provided by mining companies, such as free education, free health care, roads and bridges built, school buildings and health-care facilities, are not measured or taken into consideration in the cost-benefit analysis.
“How would you account for the the benefit of mining, which helped children graduate or complete college degrees? How can you account for the livelihood projects or the trees that were planted by mining companies during progressive mine rehabilitation?” he stressed.
Environmental groups, including the ATM, Kalikasan-PNE, Save Sierra Madre Movement Inc., the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) and their networks of community-based groups and people’s organizations, are opposed to mining.
Indigenous peoples
NOT all are excited about the impending closure of mining operations. Indigenous peoples’ tribes that benefit from mining want mining in their ancestral lands.
In Surigao mining stakeholders are up in arms for the impending closure of mining operations.
Six tribal chiefs from three towns in Surigao del Sur expressed support behind mining and even filed opposition to the interim appointment of Lopez before the Commission on Appointments.
In a letter dated February 17, 2017, Datu Engwan Ala and Datu Ryan Huniog of Carrascal, Datu Benjamin Adjawon, Datu Escobal Angeles and Datu Felipe Antad of Cantilan, and Datu Benjamin Tindogan of Madrigao said mining provided jobs and livelihood to the people.
The tribes are from the towns of Carrascal, Cantilan and Madrigao.
They fear that those who would lose their source of income from mining may be tempted to go back to a life of crime, or worse, even join insurgents and criminal organizations or syndicates involved in kidnapping, illegal drugs, or illegal logging.
Arguably, the debate over mining, whether responsible mining is possible, or whether the costs outweigh the benefit, is for the long haul.