Mindanao Development Authority remains supportive of mining in the region

MANILA, Philippines - The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), the economic think-tank and advisory group of Malacañang for the region, has again acknowledged the role of the mining industry in bringing progress to southern Philippines.

“MinDA’s support for the mining industry in Mindanao is an agency position and it does not change with leadership,” said Olie Dagala, head of MinDA’s regional concerns management office, during a meeting with South Cotabato mining companies in General Santos City last Thursday.

The mining firms, including GRCO Isulan Mining Corp., Epoch China Mining, South Davao Development Co. Inc., Tribal Mining Corp., and Sagittarius Mines Inc., met with officials of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-Region 12 office and MinDA and sought for a clear statement of support from the latter amid the impending ban on open pit mining in South Cotabato.

Early last year, former MinDA secretary Jess Dureza issued a statement strongly supporting mining as a key economic driver for Mindanao.

Ever since new MinDA head Lualhati Antonino took over, the mining companies have been waiting for a similar statement of support.

Antonino, then a congresswoman representing the first district of South Cotabato, together with congresswoman Daisy Fuentes of the second district of the same province, and the late congresswoman Clara Lobregat of Zamboanga City, supported the enactment of the 1995 Philippine Mining Act to usher the development of mineral resources in Mindanao.

“Secretary Antonino will formally launch soon a new economic roadmap for Mindanao and it identifies the mining industry as a key element for progress,” Dagala said.

Dagala gave assurance that there is no stronger statement of support for the mining industry than this economic roadmap.

The roadmap is a 20-year peace and economic framework which is an ambitious plan to finally bring progress and security to Mindanao, anchored on the “sustainable use of the region’s natural resources,” among others.

The plan will also pursue a strategy on “environment for wealth creation,” citing Mindanao as rich in natural wealth.

It also affirms that “environmental protection should both serve the common good and be economically beneficial as well.”

Initial documents show that the 20-year framework was crafted by socio-economic experts, including Cielito Habito, former head of the National Economic Development Authority; former environment undersecretary Antonio La Viña; Jesuit priest Albert Alejo, a Zamboanga-based environmentalist; Oblate priest Eliseo Mercado, a leading Mindanao peace proponent and advocate based in Cotabato; cultural development expert Marian Roces, Ella Antonio, Samira Gutoc, Edtami Mansayagan, and Rudy Rodil.

“The entire framework is a result of the various consultations we conducted in and around Mindanao”, Dagala said.

“We have been in dialogue with Mindanawons, and this framework is the voice of the entire Mindanao,” Dagala said.