Trade chief says repealing mining law can hurt investments

Former trade secretary Peter Favila warned yesterday that the call of Catholic bishops to repeal the 1995 Mining Law and revoke mining licenses could adversely affect the government’s investment targets.

Favila is seeking a dialogue with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the mining industry to brief them on the efforts of the mining sector and the government to protect the environment and the communities where mining activities take place.

The CBCP might have some technical know-how which it could share with the government, he added.

Earlier, the Chamber of Mines said the CBCP pastoral letter could send the wrong signals to potential investors.

Benjamin Philip Romualdez, Chamber of Mines president, had previously described the CBCP letter as "extreme, very sweeping and detrimental to the country."

"It can slow down interest and the investment inflow in this sector," he said.

Romualdez said the loss of mining investments and activities could displace one million workers in the mining and metallic industry and affect up to one million Filipinos more.

The government could also go bankrupt if it were forced to pay all the existing mining concessions that would need to close down, he added.

Romualdez said the repeal of the Mining Law and the recall of mining licenses could reinforce the perception of investors that the Philippines is an "absolute basket case" and a "bad country" for investments.

The CBCP letter could "wipe out" the mining industry’s successes in attracting investors at a time when the country badly needs them, he added.

Romualdez said the CBCP did not consult the mining industry before issuing the pastoral letter.

The letter could confuse potential investors and communities hosting mining operations, he added.

The government and the Chamber of Mines have stressed the need to get mining projects operational as soon as possible to take advantage of the high world prices for copper and gold.

Meanwhile, Catholic bishops and non-government organizations insisted yesterday on a repeal of the Mining Act.

"The recent pastoral letter released last Jan. 29 still stands," said Bishop Ramon Villena of the diocese of Bayombong in Nueva Vizcaya.

"The supposed truce offering is without value because it was never presented to either the plenary council or the permanent council."

"As long as the 23 mining projects are there, communities will continue to be divided, there will always be unrest and threat to displace our indigenous peoples brothers and sisters," said Bishop Jose Manguiran, of the Diocese of Dipolog.

On the other hand, the Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), an anti-mining coalition, said it is not enough for the government to suspend the issuance of new mining permits.

"The CBCP statement emphasizes the fact that the economic gain is not worth the country’s sacrifices in terms of lives, environment, and natural resources," said Jaybee Garganera, of the ATM secretariat.

The government should heed the call of the mining-affected communities for the cancellation of all approved mining concessions, she added.

On the other hand, the group Defend Patrimony believes that under the liberalized framework of the mining law, more mining disasters could be expected.

"To this very day, victims of mining disasters have to be given justice," said Trixie Concepcion, spokesperson for Defend Patrimony.

"Justice should be the first order of such a truce. Otherwise, the truce would be meaningless. An environmental disaster is not too far off given the intensive resource extraction activities of large mining corporations.

"We agree with the CBCP call to repeal the Mining Act of 1995 as implementation of this policy would only lead to further environmental disasters, economic dislocation for the communities and poverty."

Defend Patrimony said that, since 1982, there have been 17 incidences of tailings dam failures at different mining companies across the country. 

Such incidents have affected either agricultural land or rivers, resources which local communities depend upon greatly, the non-government organization added.

It noted that the worst tailings dam failure occurred in 1996 at Marinduque Island when mining firm Marcopper released some 1.6 million cubic meters of tailings into rivers and rendered them unusable. — Marianne Go, Katherine Adraneda