The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is coming up with stricter Department Administrative Order (DAO) that will lift the ban on open-pit mining to allay potential environmental concerns that will be raised against the controversial policy issuance.
In a phone interview, Environment Undersecretary for Enforcement, Mining, and Muslim Affairs Jim Sampulna told Business Bulletin that Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu has ordered the revision of the DAO on the lifting of open-pit mining.
In October, Business Bulletin reported that the DENR took back its earlier decision to keep the ban on open-pit mining method supposedly done to appease the environmental groups, and proceeded to draft the said DAO.
The DAO particularly sought to repeal the ban on open-pit mine that former and late Environment Secretary Regina Paz Lopez put in place in 2017.
In the DAO, the DENR said continuing the ban on open-pit mining “may result in loss of economic opportunity.”
It further said that the “open-pit mining method is a globally-accepted method of mining, considered to be the most feasible option for mining near-surface or shallow ore deposits.”
However, Sampulna said Cimatu decided to return the draft of the DAO to his office for it to be revised and make its provisions stricter.
“The Secretary wants stricter regulation and implementation of the policy. He wants to make sure that the open-pit mining method, when allowed, is free from accident and will ensure the safety of the environment,” Sampulna said.
Sampulna said the agency is done drafting the updated draft of the DAO, which is now being reviewed by other undersecretaries at the DENR.
He also mentioned that it was mining companies who directly lobbied DENR to finally lift the ban on open-pit mining.
In October, upon learning of the first draft of the DAO, Green Thumb Coalition convener and Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) National Coordinator Jaybee Garganera immediately rejected the move, saying that such “a policy move is a drastic reversal of preventing deforestation and protecting the remaining key biodiversity area”.
Garganera proceeded to ask President Rodrigo Duterte to instruct Cimatu not to sign any Administrative Order lifting the ban on open-pit mining.
“It is simple to understand that the huge Chinese demand for our minerals is driving this policy direction of aggressively promoting mining, even under the pandemic,” Garganera said.
When sought for reaction back in October, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), an organization of some of the country's largest mining operations, refused to make a comment on the latest DENR DAO, saying that they will not say anything about it until it is signed.