Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.
The awaited executive order (EO) spelling out the government’s new mining policy is now on the President’s desk.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., told reporters Tuesday he submitted the draft EO to President Benigno Aquino “only the other day.”
Ochoa said the final draft included the inputs made by the joint Cabinet clusters on climate and economy to ensure the concerns raised by both the mining industry and environmental groups would be considered.
“This EO hopes to strike a balance between interests, supposedly conflicting interests, between the mining industry and environment (advocates), and it also makes an attempt to harmonize seemingly conflicting laws, rules and regulations—particularly national laws and local laws,” Ochoa said in Malacañang. Christine O. Avendaño