Catanduanes Forum

from: http://www.catanduanestribune.com/Sep-23-2009/Opinion/EditorialPage/Deta...
Editorial Page
September 24,2009

Half the battle has been won by the anti-mining advocates of Catanduanes if we take into consideration the pronouncement of Monte Oro Resources and Energy, Inc. advisor Jose Raymond Apostol that it would not undertake the project if the people of Catanduanes do not want it. All they need to do is to force the revocation of the Small Scale Coal Mining Permit issued to Policarpio Torres of Viga by the next hearing in Virac sometime next month.

But they should heed the warning of the Integrated Bar of Catanduanes, Catanduanes Chapter, that the declaration could just be a delaying tactic by the giant multinational mining firm as it awaits more favorable conditions for its eventual operations, hopefully after the 2010 elections. Indeed, Monte Oro has not yet put it on paper and the words have been spoken by a factotum, not by chairman Walter Brown.

Aside from the media attention it has focused not only on Catanduanes but also on presidentiable Sen. Jamby Madrigal, last week’s Senate hearing managed to extract some valuable information that could lead to the revocation of the contracts and hopefully revision of the government’s mining policies.

According to Monte Oro and the Department of Energy, Mr. Torres and Monte Oro do not know each other and that the provision that Torres sell all P148 million worth of coal to be extracted under the SSCMP for five years to Monte Oro was just included in the permit by DOE to safeguard Mr. Torres.

For a contract that Sen. Madrigal said a lot of people would kill to obtain, the claim that Torres and Monte Oro do not know each other is indeed hard to believe.

Important questions remain unanswered, particularly on what specific law governs Small Scale Coal Mining. The permit issued to Torres mentions only BED Circular No. 87-03-001 dated March 4, 1987, as amended by Office of Energy Affairs (OEA) Circular Nos. 88-02-001 dated February 10, 1988 and 88-03-006 dated March 22, 1988. Both the Mining Act of 1995 and the Small Scale Mining Act (RA 7076) specifically excludes coal mining from coverage. A search of the Internet would come up with only an SSCMP application form, not the circular itself.

Another is to demand from DOE and DENR evidence that Torres has secured an Environmental Compliance Certificate from the EMB regional office, as well as the Potential Environmental Impact Report and the Community Development and Management Program which are required prior to the start of small scale mining.

It would instructive for all to study a recent Malacañang ruling overturning a decision by DENR to stop the operations of Platinum Group Metals Corp. in Palawan for extracting over the limit set for small scale mining. A Chamber of Mines official has said the ruling would encourage firms that applied for big mining projects at DENR to just go into small-scale mining and seek the go-ahead of local government officials, who are deemed less stringent than DENR. For a reasonable price, of course, taking into consideration the fact that 2010 is just around the corner.

Now that the ranting is over and the hard questions need to be asked, anti-mining groups should buckle down to work and come up with substantive questions that should expose how the SSCMP was issued to Torres and whether it has complied with environmental laws. A written and signed declaration from Monte Oro that it would not pursue its planned operations, coupled with the revocation of its contract, would be a prize.

For supporters of responsible mining who lament that the mining debate had taken place in the island province without the participation of technical people from DOE and DENR as well as mining experts, where were these people when the contracts were issued and the exploration done in utmost secrecy? Responsible mining can happen only when there is responsible government. Let us ask ourselves if Malacanang and the entire bureaucracy acted responsibly in the case of Rapu-rapu and in issuing the contracts to Monte Oro and Torres without adequate public consultation.