Not mine, mine, mine

One of the new Cabinet appointees of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) in “acting” capacity is Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Juan Miguel “Mitch” Cuna. Appointed just last Feb. 27, Cuna took over from erstwhile DENR Secretary Raphael Lotilla, who PBBM named to a diplomatic post as Philippine ambassador to the Holy See in the Vatican.

After being sworn into office, Cuna quoted the President’s directives to him “to speed up the processes” involved in the regulatory permits and licenses being issued by the agency. “In a short period of three months, we started with success the ‘permitting-on-wheels’ of the DENR,” Cuna cited.

At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum last Wednesday, Cuna explained the “permitting-on-wheels” project is a one-stop-shop facilitation of the DENR for business and household related permits and licenses to be brought closer to the communities.

With the collaboration of Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, Cuna cited, they launched in Binondo, Manila the help desks manned by DENR personnel who assist the public for those applying for permits such as waste water discharge, sanitation, hazardous waste disposal to environmental compliance certificates (ECCs), among other DENR issuances.

Although the agency has a website for online applications, Cuna noted, the public still finds difficulties in uploading the required documents and electronic payments of fees due to poor internet connectivity. “We want to make it easy for the public,” the DENR chief assured us.

Cuna announced the DENR “permitting-on-wheels” will also be deployed and target “Mina ng Bayan” areas to tap the vast economic potentials of critical mineral extractions being done by small scale miners across the country. Through the DENR “permitting-on-wheels” program, Cuna expects it will also generate data for small-scale mining operations which he estimated involve thousands of unregistered workers, mostly engaged in gold-panning activities.

In this DENR program, Cuna underscored the need to protect the small-scale miners along with their families highly dependent on irregular, if not illegal, source of income from gold-panning activities in these communities. Moreover, he admitted, getting these small-scale miners under government regulation will ensure the gold they collected are sold directly to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

“They will be paid the right amount and earn legal source of income. Mahirap yung tago ng tago sila. We don’t want this. We want them to earn rightfully and pay taxes, too,” Cuna stressed.

“The DENR should make ourselves relevant in helping our country’s economy grow and create new jobs,” Cuna stressed.

According to Cuna, the Philippines has nine million hectares of deposits of critical minerals but there are only 770,000 hectares actually being utilized, mostly by big-scale mining companies. “Critical minerals are in demand globally,” he cited.

“But we have not been able to scratch the full potentials. This is why the mining sector has only small contribution to the country’s economy,” Cuna rued.

From the initial 2025 report of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the DENR, our country’s minerals industry generated and contributed to the national and local taxes, fees and royalties collections amounting to about P37.76 billion in 2024. From the official figures of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the contribution of mining and quarrying to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is about 0.74 percent in 2025.

Though less than one percent contribution to our country’s economic growth, Cuna noted, much of these came from the large-scale mining and quarrying sector that operate and comply with government regulations. Being involved in extractive activities like mining, the DENR is one of the chief regulatory agencies that supervise their operations to ensure “sustainable development” policies of the government are strictly implemented.

“It is to their interests that they comply with our laws. As large-scale mining, they are established companies that operate and are registered with the PSE (Philippine Stock Exchange),” he pointed out.

Despite the 60-40 ownership restriction under our country’s 1987 Constitution, the DENR chief maintains the mining sector attracts a lot of interest from foreign investors. In fact, Cuna disclosed, he meets with a lot of ambassadors who inform him about prospects of huge investments from their respective countries in possible joint venture mining agreements with Philippine companies and businessmen.

“A lot of investors are looking at us,” the DENR chief declared.

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) could not agree more with the DENR secretary on the need to step up the country’s mining ventures through “sustainable development” policies set forth by the government. The COMP is composed of large-scale mining, quarrying and mineral processing companies all over the country and is headed by its chairman Mike Toledo.

Per PSA, Toledo noted, the estimated gross value added in mining and quarrying in 2025 at current prices is P208.4 billion. He cited the 2025 government data estimated the production value of metallic and non-metallic minerals at P316.4 billion for that year alone. Toledo is the chief operating officer of Silangan Mindanao Mining Company Inc. and serves as the head for government and public affairs at Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).

As of end-2025 there are 61 operating metallic mining companies registered with the MGB. Of this number, 39 mining companies are into nickel production; 11 are mining for gold with silver; four are into chromite mining; four are into iron deposits and three companies are into mining copper, with gold and silver.

Of the 61, about 20 operating large-scale metallic mines are Chamber members.

Although national laws allow mining as a policy, Cuna conceded, ordinances of certain local government units (LGUs) are “not in synch at times” with the need to implement the sustainable development program. This frustrates investors on such a capital-intensive industry like mining, he rued.

Cuna has submitted a draft Executive Order to the Office of the President seeking to declare the critical framework that will synchronize the LGU ordinances with the national policy on mining. Hopefully, it will make mining not “mine, mine, mine” but for the benefit of all Filipinos.