DENR orders cleanup of all inactive mining applications

MANILA, Philippines - Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje has instructed all regional directors of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to cleanse all pending and inactive mining applications this year, setting two deadlines – the first on Feb. 20 for the first 50 percent, and on December 2011 for the remaining 50 percent.

MGB records show that there are currently 2,180 pending mining tenement applications that remain in various MGB regional offices. The applications have been pending for an average of 10 years or more.

The cleansing of ageing mining applications, Paje explained, is two-pronged. One is to institute reforms in the mining sector and the second, as part of the DENR’s anti-corruption program.

“We have to decide once and for all on what to do with all of these mining applications long pending in our regional offices, otherwise the public will continue to perceive us as inefficient and corrupt,” Paje said.

He explained that his directive will discourage DENR personnel from engaging in any form of corruption.

“I want to believe in the goodness of our personnel, in their commitment to serve our country and our people. But if the temptation is overwhelming, the possibility of some of them unable to resist the temptation is always there,” Paje stressed.

Paje’s move is among the reforms in the mining sector intended to enhance the management of the country’s natural resources.

“We are now moving towards enhancing our implementation of the ‘use it or lose it policy’ where we will be cancelling not only mining applications that are unable to comply with all the requirements set by the government, but also mining tenements that have remained inactive and unproductive for a long time,” Paje said.

Mining tenements include Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA), Exploration Permit (EP) and Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA).

Paje cited examples of ageing mining applications including one for an FTAA in Region 13 which has been idle for 16 years, and an MPSA in Region 4A which has been idle for at least 15 years.

“There are also other mining tenements that continue to remain inactive for the past 14 years,” Paje added.

Exploration contracts that have been expired for five years or more, and mining contracts that have not implemented the three-year work program for two consecutive years, are also subject to final action by the DENR.

As part of the cleansing procedure, Paje said the MGB would strictly carry out the so-called “three letter-notice policy” in exacting compliance with all the requirements by the applicants, with a maximum interval of 30 days between the issuance of the letters-notices.

The requirements in filing for mining applications include the acquisition of free and prior informed consent by the rightful indigenous peoples concerned as certified by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the NCIP certificate of non-overlap within one year, and the NCIP certification precondition (compliance certificate) within three years from the date of receipt by NCIP of the pertinent letter-requests from MGB.