Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III ordered the publication of a report on the comprehensive review of large-scale metallic mines across the country, which found most of them hurdling legal and technical aspects of the audit, but still needing major reforms in the environmental, social, and economic aspects of their operations.
Dominguez, who co-chairs the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC), said the report should cover not only the recently completed two-phase audit but also the upcoming review of mines in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) that is set to begin this October.
With the third audit focused on the BARMM mines scheduled to be completed by April next year, Dominguez said he expects the report on all the reviews to be done by May 2022.
Independent experts were tasked by the MICC to conduct the mining audit.
“May I suggest that as this administration is ending its term in eight and a half months, that the MICC secretariat prepare a report of all the activities of the MICC, particularly in these reviews that were done,” Dominguez said during the 41st meeting of the MICC held via Zoom on September 17, 2021.
Dominguez said releasing the report would enhance the public’s trust and confidence in government, and demonstrate the capability of Filipino experts in conducting mining audits.
“The report should be in such a form that can be used by the ordinary reader and the public, and that it be made widely available, not only to government officials, the legislature, maybe even in the judiciary, but also to the public in general,” Dominguez said.
On top of this, Dominguez said the release of the report will also encourage provincial/city mining regulatory boards, which are under the direct supervision of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), to undertake similar audits on small-scale mining operations under their respective
jurisdictions.
The finance chief also thanked the teams of independent experts, represented during the meeting by Dr. Gem Castillo, for its “very comprehensive report” and “for helping the MICC fulfill its mandate.”
“This is the only administration that has actually done a serious review of the mining operations as mandated by the Executive Order [EO]. So thank you for making this very comprehensive report,” Dominguez told Castillo, in reference to EO 79.
The review, which covered 44 large-scale metallic mines in the country, found that majority of the mines passed the legal and technical aspects of the audit, but required major reforms in the environmental, social, and economic aspects of their operations.
During the meeting, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Director Wilfredo Moncano pointed out that the DENR issued several administrative orders to address the deficiencies of the mining operations uncovered by the experts after it was revealed in the first phase of the MICC audit that metallic mines required major reforms.
“These DENR directives resulted in marked improvements” in the conduct of operations in most of the mines, Moncano said.
The review of mining operations is mandated by EO 79 issued in 2012, but it was only during the Duterte administration that the MICC undertook this task to ensure the compliance of mining companies with existing environmental standards, laws, rules and regulations, and to rationalize the management and utilization of minerals toward sustainable development. A total of 29 experts forming technical review teams were involved in the first and second phases of the review ordered by the MICC.
Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/09/28/dof-orders-full-disclosure-of-mining-review-report/