Palace hopes mine firms will like new rules

Malacañang hopes to appease critics of Executive Order No. 79 on mining reforms with its decision Monday to revise the contentious Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the EO.

Mining companies, led by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, had earlier threatened to hale the Aquino administration to court over what they said was a “patently illegal” provision in the IRR.

In a recent interview with reporters, chamber president Benjamin Philip Romualdez singled out the IRR’s Section 9 which empowers the government to renegotiate the terms of mining contracts after the first 25-year period.

This in effect will shorten the project period of most contracts from the current maximum period of 50 years, and came as a “shock” to mining firms, Romualdez had said.

But Malacañang, through its Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC), has revised not just Section 9 but two other provisions, Sections 3 and 7, before making this public on Sept. 10.

Communications Secretary Ramon Carandang on Monday told reporters the revisions covered the terms for expired mining tenements; the grant of mineral agreements pending new mining legislation, and the opening of areas for mining through public bidding.

The original wording of Section 9, “Opening of Areas for Mining through Competitive Public Bidding,” stated that “mining contracts/agreement that may be renewed shall be subject to new terms and conditions.” With a report from Riza T. Olchondra