Four of every five, or 903 of the 1,150 mining applications pending since June 2010 have been rejected; only 247 were approved. The Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources gleefully announced so Monday, in applying the Mining Act of 1995.
Still there’s a legal hitch, one that can be taken to court, against the 247 new mines. If the site happens to be within a forest, then forestry laws prohibit mining there. If the site (likely) happens to have a slope 18 percent or higher, then it is classified as forest reserve where mining is barred. Only Congress, not the executive, may grant exemptions.
Forestry laws since the 1930s have always forbidden mining. But in 1995 the DENR began employing the Mining Act as excuse to allow mining inside forests. Despite the decade and a half of DENR wrongs, a test case can still be filed to undo the mining permits.
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For years now the National Food Authority has been relying on traders to import the annual rice shortage. The grant of the prized import licenses was always contentious. Losers would decry influence peddling. Winners would fail to deliver on time. Farmers’ groups that should get first crack would be left out. The mess needed changing. So the NFA conducted last week the first open bidding for import permits under the tax-expenditure fund or TEF. NFA Administrator Angelito Banayo was pleased with the results.
Fifty-nine bidders showed up, 35 of which qualified to ship in up to 20,000 tons of rice each. The NFA plans to fill in 600,000 tons under the TEF, which will replenish its coffers with P1.2 billion. It used to import on its own up to 2.5 million tons per year, depleting its cash, as it also shored up local farm-gate prices. Traders were charged a minimum service fee of P25 for every 50-kilo sack imported. The floor rate was raised to P100 this year under the TEF, to approximate the 40-percent Customs tariff. The 35 bidders submitted offers for 694,000 tons, or 15 percent of the allocation. Gladdening for Banayo, the highest bid was P115.50-service fee per sack, also 15 percent more than the minimum.
The bidding took all of 12 hours, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., “with price offers quite disparate, showing fairness.” The 35 entrants will undergo post-qualification review of tax-payment records and intended disports. The NFA wants 60 percent delivered to Luzon, and the balance to Visayas and Mindanao, to avert regional shortage or oversupply. The 35 may be whittled down to 30, to meet only the 600,000-ton allocation. But if less than 600,000 tons are left after post-qualifying the 35, another auction will be held, said bidding spokesman Atty. Gilberto Lauengco. A separate bidding for 60,000 tons allocated to small farmers’ groups is set for next week.
Scrapping the NFA’s rice importation monopoly, the government now allows grains traders to do everything, under two methods. They may import on their own, paying duties and other fees set by banks and the Customs bureau. Or, they may bid for the NFA’s tax-expenditure subsidy.
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A Pampanga college instructor, accused by a 16-year-old student of rape in 2008, was extradited from Saudi Arabia last Monday. Arnel Atienza Ocampo arrived at the Manila airport in black bonnet to conceal his bearded face. Handcuffed, he was accompanied by two NBI agents, who picked him up from Jeddah prison where he was detained since December. Ocampo had fled to the Middle East three years ago from five arrest warrants, two for non-bailable charges. The immigration office had a hold order on him then, yet he managed to sneak out allegedly through influential contacts. The airing of the case in Filipino channels overseas led coworkers to tip off the Interpol.
Ocampo is facing multiple charges before the Angeles City court of abusing a minor. The girl’s parents had also complained to the Holy Angels University, but HAU authorities allegedly barred the father’s participation and entry to the campus. Peer investigators meted on Ocampo a mere three-month suspension. This, purportedly after he was allowed to confront the unaccompanied victim, and wangle from her a retraction of her accusations. Another complaint has been lodged with the Commission on Higher Education for HAU’s supposed betrayal of trust. It turned out that Ocampo has a past record of sexual offenses. The Magalang Institute had fired him for similarly abusing another 16-year-old.
The latest victim, described as a bubbly, outgoing honor student before the sexual abuse, began flunking her subjects. She had to transfer schools when Ocampo’s fellow-teachers threatened her with public humiliation. Undergoing psychiatric counseling, she has since recovered and is about to graduate with a nursing degree. Her abuser’s deportation has brought her closer to exacting justice. But part of her ordeal was the harassment by Ocampo’s associates.
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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM).
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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com.