The rejection of Gina Lopez by the Commission on Appointments is still a hot topic. Gina is the second Cabinet secretary whose appointment was rejected by the CA. Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Jun Yasay was also rejected due to citizenship problems but this did not generate as much controversy.
Gina’s case was different. There is a sizable number of people and organizations out there who support her. The story therefore will not simply end with her departure.
Ordinarily, the President is given much leeway in choosing members of his Cabinet. Only in certain circumstances does the CA reject presidential appointees. There are now two rejections with the confirmation of three Cabinet members still hanging in the balance. When President Duterte assumed the Presidency, he began assembling a team based on some of his core beliefs. Some of these beliefs have come as a surprise to many. As it happens, he also cares passionately about the environment and this is why he appointed an environmental advocate in the person of Gina Lopez. Not also known to many, is that he has socialistic inclinations and this is also why he reached out to the National Democratic Front to appoint the Secretaries of Social Welfare and Agrarian Reform from that group. In a way, he tried to create a team in his own image so to speak.
With Gina, the situation was untenable right from the very start. Not only because of the subsequent actions that she took by immediately closing 23 mining companies, suspending five others and canceling 75 mineral production sharing agreements but also the way the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is structured.
Our DENR is equivalent to the Department of Interior of the United States. With us however, the department that processes applications for mining rights is also the department that is supposed to protect the environment from destruction and degradation. The ideal thing is to have two separate departments. Gina being the passionate environmental advocate that she is, proceeded to start closing mining companies. Not surprisingly, these mining companies fought back. After all, they are not exactly without resources. They went into the attack by pointing out the economic benefits of mining and the P72-billion revenue that the government derives from it. There is also a law that allows mining.
Not to be outdone, those opposed—which includes the Catholic Church—flexed their muscles and mounted powerful campaigns to support Gina. We now have a divided public—and this is why even with the departure of Gina, this issue whether to mine or not will not go away.
Part of Gina’s problem was that not all members of the Duterte administration supported her. The finance people were against her right from the very start because of the revenue that would be lost if mining were to stop altogether. Competence was another reason for her rejection. At least this was what Senator Panfilo Lacson said in an interview. Some members of the CA also came out to say that passion is not enough. President Duterte on his part said that lobby money was responsible for the rejection.
If competence is the most important issue, one could also argue that there are some people in the President’s team who do not seem to have any clue of what they are doing. Yet they were confirmed. Passion is also probably holding up the confirmation of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Department of Agrarian Reform secretaries because both have their own advocacies.
During the course of Gina’s short and tumultuous stint as DENR secretary, the term “balanced evaluation” and “responsible mining” have become by words. Balanced evaluation perhaps would mean that the approval or disapproval of mining rights must be objectively evaluated to take into account the benefits and not only concentrate on the negatives. Responsible mining would mean that mining can be undertaken with minimum destruction to the environment and this can be done by restoring the area to its original condition after the life of the mine. This may be true but in all my experience, I have never seen a mining operation that has not destroyed or degraded the environment. More so because the favorite method of mining companies to extract the minerals from the ground is open-pit mining which is the most destructive method. Once a mountain is gone, it is gone forever.
I live in a place that has been considered one of the most mineralized pieces of real estate in the world. In its heyday, there were about nine to 10 mines operating around Baguio. In order to see what mining operation has done to the environment, all that one has to do is go to Philex Mine. One reason why Kennon Road is always having landslides is that the whole mountain is full of mining tunnels that have not been refilled. These mountains, therefore could not hold water and that is the major cause of the landslides due to loose mountain soil. The destruction of the Marinduque environment by Marcopper is another classic example.
Now, retired General Roy Cimatu has been appointed to replace Gina Lopez. It is a good choice. Genaral Cimatu has plenty of managerial training and experience. He is also someone who does not make hasty decisions. He considers all facts of a situation before making a decision. If there is such a thing as responsible mining, we will expect him to define what responsible mining is and will hurry up with those evaluations so that they will not be left hanging in the air.
If there is anyone who can rise to the challenge of a difficult job ahead, General Cimatu can.