It’s been a year since former Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez gave her “gift of love” to the Filipino people on Valentine’s Day in the form of show-cause orders to miners with contracts to operate in areas near or within watersheds.
Lopez’s argument was simple: “A watershed is a watershed is a watershed.”
Today, the fate of these mining contracts—75 mineral production sharing agreements (MPSA) and one financial and/or technical assistance agreement (FTAA)—still hangs in the balance. This is because the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), now under Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, could not resolve which definition of watershed, or laws and their rules and regulations pertaining to areas closed to mining, will prevail in resolving the appeals made by holders of the mining contracts.
DENR Undersecretary for Climate Change Service and Mining Concerns Analiza R. Teh said the agency has yet to formally start reviewing the appeals submitted by the various mining companies, whose MPSAs for projects are situated within or near watersheds.
Show-cause order
Clarifying that no cancellation orders have been issued by the DENR as far as the 75 MPSAs are concerned, Teh said only “show cause” orders were actually issued by the DENR asking the companies to explain why the mining contracts should not be canceled.
She said all companies have already replied or answered.
Of the 75 MPSAs with show-cause orders, 27 are in Luzon, 11 in the Visayas and 37 in Mindanao. All these mining contracts cover nonoperating mines, or mines that are not yet in commercial operation.
The sole basis of the show-cause order is these MPSAs are within or near a watershed.
According to the River Basin Control Office (RBCO), the Philippines has 142 critical watersheds, 18 major rivers and three principal river basins. It also has 79 natural lakes.
Teh said that, last year, the DENR focused more on resolving the cases of more than two dozen operating large-scale mines with closure or suspension orders, as a result of the controversial mining audit initiated by Lopez.
She added the DENR is also in the process of capacitating Community Environment and Natural Resources Offices (Cenros) nationwide to equip personnel with the tools to address mining and environmental regulation problems.
Valentine’s Day gift
To recall, on February 14 last year, Lopez announced that as her “gift of love” to the Filipino people on Valentine’s Day, she is canceling 75 MPSAs and the FTAA for the multibillion-dollar Tampakan Copper Project—mining deals whose target operation areas are within or near watersheds.
In justifying her decision to protect the right of present and future generations to a healthy and balanced ecology, Lopez underscored the importance of protecting the country’s precious water resources that are seriously threatened by destructive development projects like mining.
Consolidation of appeals
Teh told the BusinessMirror that the DENR will just begin consolidating the appeals of the mining companies, some of which fell on the lap of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), while others went directly to the DENR’s Legal Department.
She said there is kind of a mix-up because of the so many orders issued by the DENR to various mining companies during Lopez’s 10-month crackdown on “irresponsible” mining operations.
“We still need to consolidate all these appeals before we start the review. As far as I know, all mining companies have already answered,” Teh said.
The meat of the matter
Teh, Cimatu’s point person for mining, said she will sit down with the MGB and the DENR’s Legal Department to resolve the pending appeals, starting with the legal basis of the show cause orders, and a thorough discussion that will revolve around the definition of watershed and the areas that are supposed to be closed to mining under various laws and policies, including their rules and regulation.
“If you remember, one of the issues brought up during the confirmation hearing of Secretary Lopez with the CA [Commission on Appointments] was: What is a watershed? This we have to resolve,” she said.
Teh noted that mining companies have also raised the issue of the definition of a watershed.
She said that, as the DENR is also currently crafting a new mining policy, the various definitions of watershed need to be harmonized.
The varying definition of a watershed, Teh stressed, will be looked into thoroughly by the DENR in evaluating the appeals of the concerned MPSA holders.
There are varying definitions of a watershed that are being looked into—watershed as defined by Republic Act (RA) 7942, or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995; Presidential Decree (PD) 705, or the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines; and Executive Order (EO) 79 and its implementing rules and regulation (IRR).
The watershed referred to under the IRR of RA 7942 is “critical watershed,” which means a drainage area of a river system, lake or water reservoir supporting existing and proposed hydroelectric power, domestic water supply, geothermal power and irrigation works that need immediate rehabilitation and protection to minimize soil erosion, improve water yield and prevent possible flooding.
Under Section 19 of RA 7942, MPSA and FTAA applications shall not be allowed in waterways, reservoirs and dams; and proclaimed watershed forest reserves.
PD 705 defines watershed as “a land area drained by a stream or fixed body of water and its tributaries having a common outlet for surface run-off.” Moreover, the same law defines watershed reservation as “a forest land reservation established to protect or improve the conditions of the water yield thereof or reduce sedimentation.”
This was also expressed in EO 79, which states: “Mining contracts, agreements and concessions approved before the effectivity of the order shall continue to be valid, binding, and enforceable so long as they strictly comply with existing laws, rules and regulations, and the terms and conditions of the agreement. As such, review and monitoring of such compliance shall be undertaken periodically.”
“We don’t want to be legalistic about the definition of a watershed,” Teh said, adding that the DENR is not setting aside the possibility that a future mining project may actually have adverse environmental and social impact.
Teh pointed out that even if a company has a prior right over the mining area in case the MPSA was issued before an area was declared or proclaimed as a watershed, it will not exempt the company from possible cancellation if there’s a grave violation of the mining or environmental laws that have caused environmental degradation and suffering to communities.
“In the meantime, we need to have discussions with MGB to clarify what is a watershed. We really need to clarify what is a watershed,” she said, referring to the different definitions.
For the meantime, Teh said the DENR and MGB will have to verify whether the MSPA areas are, in fact, within a watershed—proclaimed or not—through mapping activities.
“There is now an ongoing mapping of mining no-go zones as against mining [MPSA] areas. What we will do is overlay the two maps to show whether the mining area is within or near the proclaimed watersheds,” she said.
Image credits: Jes Aznar/The New York Times
8 comments
If Gina Lopez is proficient at anything, it is showmanship. Thus she will present a picture of a discolored lake and claim it is mining pollution and her listeners will be swept up by her ‘passion’ and will believe it unquestioningly. They will challenge naysayers with ‘have you seen the damage’ at such and such place whether or not they have the expertise to tell whether the damage is from mining, illegal logging or fishing or just natural laterites being washed down by heavy rains, all because passionate Gina Lopez said so. But I challenge Madame Lopez to engage in a debate with true experts like Dr. Carlos Arcilla, one who definitely knows what a watershed is, and let’s see how far her bluster and posturing take her.
I praise Sec. Cimatu that unlike Lopez, he handles his position without any preconceived notions and endeavors to explore all avenues.
Even my 9 old daughter can define what’s a watershed.Oo nga kaya puro utos lang galing kay PDigong ginagawa. Kabaligtaran ni Mam Gina, si Mam Gina agressive si Sir Cimatu lalamya lamya, former general pa naman. O takot lang sa asunto o kaya para pag wala na government may pwesto sa private.
Sad to say, mining really does destroy the environment especially if not done properly. I appreciate the actions of sec. lopez, because for a long time, nobody had actually stood up to mining firms to question how proper their operations are. Haven’t u wondered why there are always mitigations and rehabilitations during and after responsible mining operations? This is because there are always negative effects to the environment.
I agree with you that mining improperly does destroy the environment. I will be the first to say that enforcement of the Mining Act has been poor. But do we blame the industry because of poor enforcement? If you are referring to mining destroying forests, etc., the same could be said for urbanization. But do we stop expanding our cities, or do we set limits on how far mining and urbanization can go? I ask you: If there was no mining what is the alternative? Import everything and spend our foreign reserves while affecting those who benefit from mining? I don’t mean just the mining company employees, but also the host communities receiving free housing, education, medical, livelihood and so forth. Rehabilitation is not just remediation or patching up the ‘damage’ but also enhancement. Philex Mining has planted trees even in places where nothing grew before. Masbate Gold and Hinatuan Mining have begun the construction of artificial coral reefs. The key is ‘responsible mining. Encourage that while hunting down the violators relentlessly.
Exactly as u said it. There is indeed poor implemetation of the mining law. Which is why it was good that sec. Lopez started the ball rolling and insisted on making the big firms comply. The big ones that are doing things the right way were not harassed, were they? What i know is that those that are abusing nature are just the ones being targeted. Im really not saying she is perfect. Im sure she has other reasons for doing what she did but in the end, it’s commendable of her for having stood up to the big miners in order to stop the things done wrongly to the environment.
Gina Lopez’s reign in the DENR was a perfect example of monomania. Her mind was completely on mining that everything else was an afterthought. She, who is constantly harping on ‘glamping’ and tourism had no idea of the cesspoll that was Boracay. Even then, she was in a position to go after real violations of the Mining Act, but instead she launched a questionable audit whose methodology to this day remains a mystery, questioned even by her own people in the DENR. At least Cimatu is willing to listen to everyone, both pro and anti mining, and lo and behold! He also goes after illegal logging and Boracay. And yes, even illegal small-scale mining which Lopez ignored completely because they were not as headline-grabbing as the big miners.
Malay natin kung ano pa ang ibang ginawa ni sec. Lopez if she was allowed to continue.. i dont think we can intelligently assume that what she did in her short stint will be the only thing she’ll do while she was the denr sec. Maybe she thought to prioritize harrasing the big irresponsible miners first while she’s not yet appointed because she might have foreseen not having another chance to do so if she got denied. Normal lang naman sa tao na if ur passionate enough about something, you would put more effort and attention to the subject of ur passion? Does that make u monomaniac? Sigurado ka ba na yan lang ang ginagawa nya at gagawin nya? d=) admittedly, lifelong advocacy and crusade nya naman talga ang anti irresponsible mining.
Questionable audit or not, she did go after the violators. Which is why the violators challenged her audit, right? And sino ba yang sinasabi mo na fellows nya sa denr na among those that questioned her methods? Mga malilinis ba yang mga yan? (“,) kasi ang alam ko, marami din naman ang happy sa sinimulan ni sec. Lopez sa loob ng denr – Those who are just silent because they are fearful of the backlash of being the good guys in denr.
Im not really defending the woman because i like her very much. I just have respect for her for being able to stand up to the challenge of addressing social issues like this. Also, i just like to challenge some of your prejudice against the person. Nobody is perfect naman dba? So go easy on ur labels. Well, maliban nalang kung clinical psychiatrist ka ni sec. Lopez and u diagnosed her with monomania then i stand corrected. Hahaha.
Lesson is to balance both parties not the be biased to mining sector per se. Look what Sec Cimatu did.