BY: Dr. Ramon Ricardo A. Roque, CESOI, Diplomate
Will President Duterte adopt the recommendation of the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) to lift the ban on open pit mining in our country or will he reject it and heed the call of environmental groups, including that of former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Gina Lopez, to retain the ban?
The players in the mining industry are asserting that the ban should not have been imposed in the first place because open pit mining has been proven safe and economical and is being practiced worldwide.
The issue here is not really on the mining method but on how mining companies use such method and how DENR regulates the use of the same.
Open pit mining can be a safe method but it can also be dangerous to the life of those in and near the mining areas and it can also do irreversible damage to the environment.
It is really a question of how responsibly open pit mining is being used in our country.
Former DENR Secretary Gina Lopez has made a solid case against the state of open pit mining in our country and no one, even those from the mining industry, can deny that in many cases, open pit mining negatively affected the life and livelihood of, among others, farmers and fishermen and caused serious damage to our environment.
On the issue of continuing or lifting the ban on open pit mining, the first order of business is obviously reforming the DENR, particularly in the context of its regulatory performance.
Lifting the ban without reforms on how the mining industry is being regulated will mean a “green signal” to the destruction of our environment and to the suffering of other stakeholders in mining communities.
It will not be enough just to shut down the operations of erring mining operators and penalize them for their irresponsible mining practices.
Government officials and employees who are tasked to ensure that mining operators follow our mining and environmental laws should be made accountable for their actions and inactions.
The government needs to institutionalize better accountability systems to ensure that government employees, particularly those at the DENR, are serving the interest of the country and the Filipino people, and not their personal interests and those of the mining operators.
Without assurances that open pit and other mining methods will not cause irreparable damage to our environment and disadvantage our people, particularly the farmers and fishermen, President Duterte should not allow the lifting of the ban because it will be a great disservice to the Filipino people.
