DENR move on ore transfer permit to benefit gov’t – Chamber of Mines

The move of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to control directly the issuance of ore transport permits (OTPs) will benefit the government in terms of additional taxes from small and medium-scale mining producers, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines  said yesterday.

Chamber president Benjamin Philip  G. Romualdez said the mining association last year called to the government’s attention to certain discrepancies between export figures released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) and nickel, chromite and iron ore imports of China.

The Chamber of Mines said this suggests that technical smuggling may have been committed by some unscrupulous miners or traders.

The Chamber of Mines is thus fully supportive of the move for the DENR to be the sole issuer of OTPs in order to strictly monitor movements of mineral commodities, particularly the direct shipping of ores to foreign markets.

As recent as last month, the Chamber of Mines again brought to the attention of Environment and National Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza the problem concerning the proliferation of small-scale mining permits issued by some local government units (LGUs) under a different label and without the knowledge of the DENR.

It was following that meeting that Atienza announced the policy that henceforth, OTPs would be solely issued by the DENR for monitoring purposes and to ensure the protection of the environment. 

The chamber believes that a stricter issuance of OTPs and strict audit confirmation of the tonnage and grades of mineral exports contained in the export manifests of exporters and traders should be undertaken by the Bureau of Customs.