New mine policy,a boon or a bane?

 EDITORIAL

President Aquino’s Executive Order 79 is making mining stakeholders jittery, so the government, particularly the Department of Environment and Natural Resources should launch an extensive information drive particularly among communities which would be affected by the mining policy.

           

To date, even the media is in the dark on provisions of this EO, which Malacanang says, would balance the country’s ecological and financial concerns.

           

Militant groups are saying there have to be more debates on the matter before this is implemented otherwise, it could be more harm than good to the country. 

           

According to Malacanang, with the EO, national laws would take precedence over local laws in relation to mining. So what happens now to local government initiatives on mining in their areas? The gray areas of the EO should, according to critics, be explained.

           

In Kalinga for example, the provincial government is set to enact its own local mining code that will govern and regulate the operations of small-scale mining in the province including quarrying.

           

Vice Gov. Allen Jesse Mangaoangsaid the enactment of the Provincial Mining Code of Kalingawould result to  judicious use  of mineral resources, promote occupational safety, prevent pollution, empower miners, and generate local revenues.

           

He adds however that the “local mining code  is in   support to President Aquino’s comprehensive policy on mining embodied in his executive order that do away with recurring concerns over small-scale miners, where government took into consideration the voices of the stakeholders concerned and balancing out concerns on environment protection and economic gains.”

           

The provincial board took note of findings of a team that four main rivers in Kalinga were contaminated with mercury, indicating small scale miners used mercury to extract gold and this was contributory to toxic contamination of rivers since mine wastes flow into them.

The multi-sectoral committee drafting team is chaired by board member Roy Dickpus with members

from concerned government departments, private sector and small scale miners.

           

Dominic Jude Sugguiyao, Supervising Environmental management Specialist of the provincial environment office said they will take an active role in drafting the mining code.

“The process will be participatory to involve the miners, nongovernment organizations and local government units,” he said.

           

This is an example of how a local government unit, the Kalinga provincial government for that matter,  addressed mining in their locality.

           

Now local critics are asking: What if local laws on mining would contradict the EO considering that there were sufficient local consultations on the matter and it adhered to their local customs and traditions?

           

Would Malacanang disregard local consensus considering that local mining laws contradict the EO?