Presidential candidate and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso said he will allow mining in the country as long as its players are responsible and adhere to the lawful standard of operations to ensure that the environment is protected if elected president in 2022 elections.
“What we need is to create jobs because we’ve lost so much. What we need is new business because the economy is really affected by this pandemic. We have to be aggressive. We have to be practical but at the same time we have to be responsible also for the next generation,” Moreno told TV host Boy Abunda during Abunda’s “Presidential Interviews” show.
According to Moreno, the standard-bearer of Aksyon Demokratiko, the country needs mining as it provides jobs and other livelihood related to the industry, and revenues for the government, particularly in this time of pandemic when the economy is hurting.
“With the hardships of life in our country, with the devastating impact of this pandemic on our economy, we need to generate more FDIs, Foreign Direct Investments, more jobs, more sources of income. You cannot keep on taxing our people so that we can run the government. We need to make money (in mining) but we can be responsible in (dealing with) our environment,” Moreno stressed.
The government, he said, should take advantage of luring foreign investors into the country with the lifting of the nine-year moratorium on new mining agreements and the four-year ban on open-pit mining of minerals by President Duterte.
With these twin developments, Moreno maintained that the government could further expand the sector by creating mining-related industries and mineral processing factories that will create additional employment and income from the resources being mined in the country.
“When we open a mine, we must have an industry created,” Moreno said, as he cited the construction of steel factories as an example. “It seems that we will not just stop mining and then sell it out. We should create another industry.”.
Moreno, however, shunned backyard mining operations, which he said are mostly unregulated, leading to the destruction of the environment.
“We can’t go backyard there and just be irresponsible. It has to have a rule and there is a global gold standard on that. That is important because with that, you will have sustainable mining and then you can protect the environment,” Moreno said.
In April 2021, President Duterte signed Executive Order 120 which lifted the moratorium on the granting of new mining permits. The EO reversed a presidential directive issued by then-President Noynoy Aquino in 2012 which banned new mining operations in the country.
The ban on open-pit mining, meanwhile, was issued in 2017 by then Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez. Incumbent Secretary Roy Cimatu overturned the policy with the issuance of Administrative Order No. 2021-40 last month that allows the resumption of the open-pit method of mining for copper, gold, silver and complex ores in the country.