THE Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) has deferred a recommendation to lift the moratorium on the issuance of new mineral agreements, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).
In a statement on Tuesday, the DOF said this is despite the increase in the excise taxes for mineral products to 4 percent, from 2 percent under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law or Republic Act 10963.
Executive Order (EO) 79 imposed a moratorium on new mineral agreements “until a legislation rationalizing existing revenue-sharing schemes and mechanisms shall have taken effect.”
“The DOF clarified that the TRAIN only increased the excise taxes and did not cover the implementation of a new fiscal regime for mining. The new fiscal regime proposed by the DOF covers other taxes and fees, such as royalty, windfall, profit and incentives,” the finance department said in a statement.
The DOF said a new revenue-sharing scheme and mechanism for mining will be covered in Package 2 plus of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP).
The House of Representatives provides for this new fiscal regime to ensure that the government gets its rightful share of the profits from mineral resources by approving House Bill No. 8400 on third and final reading. The bill was transmitted to the Senate last month.
Apart from this, the DOF said the other items discussed in the 33rd meeting of the MICC, which was cochaired by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, included MICC’s conduct of a review of around 15 mining companies next year.
These were part of the 41 mines initially reviewed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) under former Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez in 2016. The DOF said the review to be conducted will be “objective, science-based, and fact-finding.”
“MICC is eyeing to commission the same team of experts following their outputs on the review of the environmental, economic, social, legal and technical aspects of the first batch of 26 mining companies that Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has described as ‘highly commendable,’” the DOF stated.
Further, the DENR was tasked to study the process of delineating the “go and no-go zones” for mining application identified under EO 79.
The DOF said that considering the continuing issues and concerns on the identification of these areas, particularly the delineation of Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones, the DENR and other concerned member agencies were tasked to form a technical working group that will identify a pilot area for the implementation of the updated no-go zones.
The MICC also instructed the DENR to check the provisions in the implementing rules and regulations and see whether the issues concerning the go-no go zones could be resolved by revising the IRR.