President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said that his administration would do a "meticulous balancing" to protect the environment and enforce the country's law on responsible mining.
Marcos said this in response to a question about his policy on protecting the environment in the Cordillera, especially regarding mining.
According to the President, protecting the environment has always been essential to his administration's policies.
"In terms of protecting the environment, it's very clear what the position of this government has always been... It has been an important part of all our policies," he said.
"We are environmentally conscious, moving the economy towards green technologies, moving our production of power towards renewables," he added.
President Marcos noted that mineral exploration and extraction are essential to his administration's economic plan.
However, he said the government wants to avoid unfortunate incidents like what happened in the past few years.
"So it is really a question of enforcing the law in terms of responsible mining, and that is what we will continue to do," Marcos said.
"We will always make sure that the mining companies who come in, once they are finished mining, that they leave the site in the same condition as it was when they found it," he added.
Meanwhile, Marcos said the country can now monetize its forest cover— giving it a peso or dollar value and taking advantage of being more active in promoting, monitoring, regulating, and encouraging the care of its forests.
"All our forest cover is important and must remain --- that is giving the Philippines, we fall into the category of a carbon sink country because of our forest cover, and so that is a very valuable asset for the Philippines," he said.