Environmental groups belonging to the Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) on Wednesday criticized the Duterte administration for allowing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to lift the ban on open-pit mining method in the Philippines.
“We condemn the Duterte government’s lifting of the open-pit mining ban when people are still responding to the plight of millions affected by Supertyphoon Odette. Talk about priorities in these times of crisis,” the group said in a news statement.
Kalikasan-PNE said the lifting of the open-pit mining ban, an environmental policy put in place by former DENR Secretary, the late Regina Paz L. Lopez in 2017, adds insult to the injury of many “Odette” victims.
“Open-pit mining is actually responsible for the devastation of watersheds in regions heavily afflicted by the typhoon such as Caraga, Negros, and Central Visayas,” the group said.
According to Kalikasan-PNE, the promise that the move will bring in money for economic recovery is nothing but disinformation.
“Only 12 percent of mineral resources plundered in the Philippines by big mines trickle back to our economy as taxes, fees, and royalties. For every 10 pesos worth of minerals they will plunder, only a peso will return to the Philippines,” the group lamented.
According to Kalikasan-PNE, for the past 26 years, poverty rates in the Philippines have only worsened while mining revenue steadily increased. We are left with areas like the Marcopper open-pit mines, forever scarred and polluted, unfit for human life.
“This is pretty much an election campaign promise by the evil Duterte-Marcos mafia: that millions of Filipinos will be left to suffer and die amidst disasters fueled by mining and climate change,” the group lamented.