DENR ignores calls to reconsider lifting of mining ban, cites billions of revenues needed

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is not keen to heed the calls for it to review the lift on the mining ban, as it cited the billions in revenues the government stands to gain from the sector.

In a virtual briefing on Monday, DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones was asked to respond to calls of environment groups and stakeholders to reconsider Executive Order 130, which allows the government to enter into new mineral agreements.

"Ngayon hindi natin tutuunan ng pansin 'yung ganyan dahil kailangan natin kasi marami tayong problema ngayon sa bansa na kailangan natin ng pagkukuhanan ng pondo," he said during the Laging Handa briefing.

"Ito 'yung nakita natin na talagang isa sa mga paraan para tayo ay makaahon ng konti para magamit natin 'yung mga pondong makukuha natin para rin sa like for example, sa COVID-19 activities," he added.

(We will not pay attention to that because we need mining due to the number of problems the country is facing that need funding... We saw this as a way to alleviate the situation and to use the funds for COVID-19 activities for example.)

Duterte last week issued EO 130, which lifted the mining ban imposed by his predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, in 2012. With this, new mineral agreements may move forward.

According to Leones, the government expects to gain P21 billion in revenues from royalty and excise taxes from the mining industry, but it will take up to five years before this will be felt.

"We saw the mining sector as a way to undertake economic recovery. We saw that we can use our resources to come up or to generate the necessary income for our economy," he explained in a mix of English and Filipino.

At present, Leones said there are some 100 projects in the mining pipeline -- 35 in the first phase and another 65 in the second phase.

For its part, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines -- an umbrella organization of mining, mineral quarrying, and processing companies in the country -- cheered the lifting of the ban on new mining projects.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier said that the recent two-week reimposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the NCR Plus bubble would result in P30 billion in losses in households' income, and shave off 0.8 percentage points from the GDP.

Prior to this, NEDA said the Filipino families lost some P1.4 trillion in 2020 due to the lockdown restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The country reported a record-low gross domestic product (GDP) of -9.5% in 2020, which the government also attributed to the shutdown of the economy due to the lockdowns. —KBK, GMA News