By Jonathan L. Mayuga & Elijah Felice E. Rosales
ENVIRONMENT Secretary Roy A. Cimatu challenged the mining industry to redeem itself by going beyond mottos and slogans but by showing what responsible mining is all about.
Speaking during the Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Award (PMIEA) event last Friday, Cimatu’s presence and message gave miners a glimmer of hope after President Duterte’s latest policy pronouncement to uphold the ban on prospective open-pit mining for select ores.
The PMIEA is the highlight of the annual 64th Annual National Mine Safety and Environment Conference (ANMSEC). The ANMSEC held in Baguio City gathered more than 3,000 top executives, engineers and employees from various mining, quarrying and cement companies and officials and representatives from other support industries to tackle mine safety and environmental issues.
According to Cimatu, mining companies should go beyond crafting slogan but put to practice responsible mining.
“Let me make our position very clear as mandated by the Constitution and the existing laws,” Cimatu said. “No less than President Duterte has declared in no uncertain terms that the administration is for responsible mining.”
He said that responsible mining, as how Duterte intends to see it, must be people-oriented and provide decent jobs. It must protect and enhance the environment, not run over the rights and welfare of indigenous people, must contribute its fair share to national income and, last, must transform itself to a world-class industry.
Surprising
CURRENT Chambers of Mines of the Philippines Vice Chairman Jose R. Leviste Jr. views Cimatu’s speech as “very positive for the mining industry.”
“I recall his decision, to make a decision on the basis of science. I welcome points defining responsible mining,” said Leviste, who is also chairman of OceanaGold Philippines Inc. “I like his concept-reference to Chile and Indonesia and to use Chile as a reference point for the target of 17-percent GDP.”
Cimatu’s presence at the conference and participation in the awarding of this year’s PMIEA surprised industry leaders. It was the first time for a sitting secretary of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to attend and deliver a message at ANMSEC. The last time that a sitting environment chief took part in the annual event was seven years ago.
Cimatu said he was hesitant to attend the annual gathering, but eventually decided to come.
“What made me finally decide to come over was my desire to determine for myself whether there’s hope for redemption for an industry that has apparently failed our country and our people,” Cimatu said. “Given its seemingly battered image in the public eye, I myself hesitated at first or even considered coming over. But I thought as the DENR secretary it is [not] right to simply ignore, or worst condemn, a sector which [can be] a solid partner for the development of the national good.”
Diminishing
EXPERTS have warned that Duterte’s hardline policy on open-pit method will only diminish the mining industry’s already-little contribution to Philippine economy.
Maria Ella C. Oplas, economics professor at the De La Salle University, said the President should have listened to the recommendation of the country’s mining body to restore open-pit mining.
Last Tuesday Duterte said he will continue to observe the ban on open-pit mining issued by former Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez, even as the Mining Industry Coordinating Council has called for its lifting.
“I believe that the decision of the President will discourage mining-industry players in general,” Oplas told the BusinessMirror. “It will aggravate the situation where mining and industry contributes very little to our economic growth.”
What little amount of contribution mining gives to Philippine economy will only reduce due to the President’s crackdown on open-pit method, Oplas added. The country has not benefitted that much from mining ,and the government is determined to increase excise taxes on it just to maximize profit from the industry.
With the ban, Oplas concluded the government is holding mining, companies by the neck without giving them elbow room to contribute to Philippine economy and develop other methods.
“Mining is a highly regulated industry. Regulation per se is not bad, but what is bad is [the] government’s failure [to do so],” Oplas said.
Confusing
ATENEO School of Government Dean Ronald U. Mendoza has a different dilemma with Duterte’s decision to continue implementing the ban. Mendoza argues the decision will confuse mining companies whether to invest in the country.
“Our country’s policy flip-flopping will not help us attract long-term foreign investors, nor long-term domestic investors for that matter,” Mendoza told the BusinessMirror.
“What we will attract are opportunistic investors—without strong policy consistency and coherence, those who will cut and run with the fickle political cycle,” Mendoza added.
The Chief Executive said he has no plans of restoring open-pit mining in the future. He said “it is destroying the soil, the environment,” and is performed without immediate corrective measures.
The ban was enforced in April by Lopez who, like the President, has a strong opposition on irresponsible mining. Under Administrative Order 2017-10, the use of open-pit method of mining for the extraction of copper, gold, silver and complex ores was prohibited.
Even as Lopez was rejected by the powerful Commission on Appointments in May, the government has continued implementing her directive on open-pit mining, banking on Duterte’s open declaration of his anti-mining stance.
Contributions
IN his message, Cimatu said the industry should redeem itself from “failing the country and the people” for being associated with environmental degradation, social injustice, corporate greed, and utter irresponsibility.
He added he wants to see the sector’s contribution to the Philippine economy to grow by double digits, from a measly 2 percent.
Moving forward, Cimatu said he wants to see the sector “regain itself in the same manner as those in Chile and Indonesia, which are considered as mineralized as the Philippines.”
He said Duterte wants to see the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP to be at the high of two digits in terms of percentage.
As of now, the mining sector in Chile contributes as much as 17 percent of its GDP. The industry accounts for 14 percent of Indonesia’s overall economy.
The mining sector’s annual contribution to the Philippine economy had failed to go beyond 0.7 percent over the past seven years.
To date, the country’s untapped mineral resources are projected to have a combined value of over $1 trillion, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
“Please remember that our national resources are owned by all of us. These are state assets. You as miners are allowed to make use of them as contractors of our people to benefit all of us now and for the next generations,” Cimatu said. “Simply put, an MPSA [Mineral Production Sharing Agreement] and FTAA [Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement] is a privilege given, not a right one is entitled to. That is why the industry has to adhere to rules and accountability for it to prosper and be sustained for the national good.”
He added he doesn’t want to see the sector “end up as an irresponsible one benefiting only a small portion of the public” and to waste “our resources and degrade our environment and, thus, destined to be condemned to the dustbin of history.”