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?
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