3 January 2022
Makati City – In response to a media inquiry, the President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (CanCham), Julian Payne, confirmed the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) of the Philippines supported the statement by the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) welcoming the DENR decision to rescind the ban on open-pit mining.
Mr. Payne noted that “the DENR decision will enable the metallic mining industry to contribute substantially to the longer-term growth of the Philippine eeconomy and to benefit Filipinos, particularly those in remote mining areas where poverty and unemployment rates are high.”
He further noted that “the additional tax revenue generated by large mining for both national and local governments could help fund much needed environmental protection and social welfare programs, amongst other government activities.”
He stressed that the JFC members also welcomed the terms and conditions set by DENR for open-pit mining operations to ensure these will be environmentally and socially sustainable. In this respect he added that “good practices in large scale mining in countries such as Australia and Canada have demonstrated this is quite possible given appropriate regulatory and fiscal frameworks for mining.”
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