The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines said Tuesday it will continue to abide by the law and practice responsible mining.
CoMP made the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte said the “nation can live without mining,” if miners would not follow environmental laws.
Duterte said if the mining industry would not shape up, he could forego the P40 billion collected annually from mining companies.
“We continue to take the president’s statements as a challenge for us in the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines to step up our efforts and practices in adhering to the tenets of responsible mining,” said CoMP.
The group also said the prevailing assumption that government was getting only 18 percent from mining operations was false and baseless.
CoMP said the foreign technical assistance agreement provided for a 50/50 percent sharing formula with the government and when there were windfall profits, the government was receiving a further share of 60 percent, when the windfall was over 50 percent.
It said in the mineral production sharing agreement, the government was receiving a 45-percent share, depending on prices of commodities.
“Us in the chamber are covered by a strict edict to safeguard our people, environment and country’s interests and we will continue to abide by the law as the president has stressed to us in the industry and support his effort to weed out the irresponsible miners who conduct their business without regard for the law,” CoMP said.
The government is currently auditing the operations of all mining companies. Environment Secretary Regina Lopez earlier said the audit was ordered by President Duterte.
“The audit is not just physical and technical, it’s also social and environmental. It also involves the community. It’s a total impact evaluation of the operations of the mine,” Lopez said.
The audit on mining firms aims to determine the adequacy and efficiency of the environmental protection measures of each mining operation.
The audit also aims to identify gaps in environmental protection measures and to determine the appropriate penalties in case of violations of the mining and environmental laws.
“We will do the audit and all those that cause suffering will be suspended, It’s the right thing to do,” Lopez said.