Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 21) — President Rodrigo Duterte said the ban on open-pit mining stays amid calls from a government mining review group to lift it.
“I verified this personally with the President,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Monday press briefing. “He says that the ban on new open pit mining remains.”
However, Roque said he has yet to verify if this decision has been officially relayed to the Cabinet.
Roque’s statement came after the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC), an inter-agency government group formed in 2012 to review existing mining operations, recommended in October 2017 to lift the open-pit mining ban.
Read: MICC to conduct review of mines every two years
“Majority of the members of the MICC members voted to recommend a change in the policy of the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) with regard to Department Administrative Order (DAO) 2017-10, particularly, that the DENR lift the ban on open pit mining provided that mining laws are strictly enforced,” the group said in a statement.
In April 2017, former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez imposed DAO 2017-10, saying that the country lacked the technology to keep open-pit mining safe.
Read: DENR plans to ban open-pit mining
Open-pit mining is recognized by the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and is an internationally allowed method of extracting mineral ore.
The ban also prohibited the extraction of coal, limestone, marble and clay.
Duterte said in September 2017 that he supported Lopez’s move, adding that he asked her successor, Roy Cimatu, “to look into the eventual closure of open pit mining.”
Read: Gina Lopez calls out gov’t agencies supportive of open-pit mining
“I agree with Gina Lopez,” Duterte said. “That has to stop some time. But I’ll give the mining companies enough elbow room to make room for eventual change.”
Duterte said in March 2017 that he would rather forego ₱70 billion in revenue from the mining industry than risk further damage to the environment.
Read: Duterte: I’d rather follow Gina Lopez than get ₱70B in mining revenue
CNN Philippines Digital Producer VJ Bacungan contributed to this report.
