No compromise on mine leak—Aquino
By DJ Yap, Riza Olchondra
President Benigno Aquino III’s marching orders to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje brooked no argument: Do not compromise on the environment.
President Benigno Aquino III’s marching orders to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje brooked no argument: Do not compromise on the environment.
The much-anticipated new mining policy of the Aquino administration may very well spell the end of the “pick and shovel” practice of small-scale miners, according to Compostela Valley Gov. Arturo Uy.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the National Tourism Council last week endorsed proposals to delineate hundreds of areas as “no-mining zones.”
Catholic and Protestant bishops have called on Congress anew to scrap the Mining Act of 1995, which allows foreign companies to explore and extract minerals in the country, and to pass House Bill No. 4315 or the People’s Mining Bill, which was filed by militant legislators in March.
The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) has dismissed claims its members were destroying the environment and put the blame squarely on unregulated small-scale mining and slash-and-burn farming methods. Since the Mining Act of 1995, the government has strictly enforced adherence to responsible mining and clearly delineated mining areas to preserve the environment, the [...]
