Marcos tells DENR to strictly enforce mining laws

PRESIDENT FERDINAND Marcos Jr. has ordered the  Department  of  Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to bolster its regulatory powers on small and large-scale mining to ensure that standards are updated and that mining firms are strictly implementing their respective safety and health programs for workers.

A LATEST satellite photo of the southern Philippine island of Tumbagaan in Tawi-Tawi’s Languyan town shows the devastation of nickel mining activities there. The Google Maps photo accessed by The Mindanao Examiner shows about 90% of the island had been mined. But the different shades of colors of the island - which was once covered in thick vegetation - indicate fresh mining activities.

Marcos made this instruction in a meeting with DENR officials in Malacañang last week.

“Gusto natin ma-legalize ang mga small-scale mining firms kasi madami sa kanila illegal, kaya walang protection ang mga minero. Gusto nating palakasin ang regulatory framework para maka-operate sila ng legal, upang mabigyan ang ating minero ng assistance at protection para sa ligtas nilang pagtatrabaho,” Marcos said.

Marcos expressed the need to enhance social protection and security for workers in the mining industry. “We might be able to access financing, they might be able to access social protection,” Marcos told DENR officials.

“Ang kawawa diyan ‘yung mga miners. They’re really not… they have no safety. Ang daming namamatay,” Marcos lamented, referring to miners who do not have the proper training or inadequate safety measures inside the mines.

On small-scale mining, there are bills that the President may certify as urgent, including the amendment to Republic Act 7076 to incentivize small-scale mining (SSM), to provide social assistance and labor protection as well as government assistance programs.

Under RA 7076, or the Act Creating A People’s Small-Scale Mining Program, SSM pertains to mining activities that rely heavily on manual labor using simple implementations and methods. The law also defines small-scale mining as an activity that does not use explosives or heavy mining equipment.

“I think for now the need is for the regulatory capabilities, especially the small scale,” Marcos said.

Southern Philippines

In Southern Philippines, destructive mining practices both by small-scale and large-scale miners continue unabated. In Zamboanga Peninsula, open-pit mining has become a practice by commercial miners.

In Tawi-Tawi province, Languyan town shows the devastation of nickel mining activities there. Environmentalists said nickel mining activities have also destroyed the environment on Tumbagaan Island and other sites in Tawi-Tawi. Mining money was also being used in the past to bankroll political campaigns in the Muslim autonomous region comprising the provinces of Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, Sulu, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao. 

As early as 2016, the Regional Legislative Assembly of the previous and now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had asked the DENR to issue an order stopping all destructive mining activities in the Muslim autonomous region.

In September 2019, the BARMM said it suspended all nickel mining operations in Tawi-Tawi to pave the way for a review of the region’s mining policy. But details of the review were not made public.

Second-largest nickel producer

The Philippines is the world’s second-largest nickel ore producer in 2018 after Indonesia, with both Southeast Asian nations as the top two suppliers to biggest buyer China. And latest available industry data showed that 2.34 million wet metric tonnes (wmt) of high-grade ore, or nearly 90% of 2.66-million wmt of the high-grade material the Philippines exported to China in the first half of 2018 came from Tawi-Tawi.

Tawi-Tawi accounted for 27% of overall nickel ore exports, totalling 15.8-million wmt, to China during the six-month period.

President  Ferdinand  Marcos  Jr.   tasked  the  DENR  to  bolster  its  regulatory  powers  on small and large-scale  mining  to  ensure  that  standards are updated and that mining firms are strictly implementing their respective safety and health programs for workers.

Destructive

In 2016, ARMM Assemblyman Hanibal Tulawie, then chairman of the Committee on Environment and Ecology, said that a resolution was passed asking the DENR to immediately issue a “cease-and-desist” order on all mining companies operating in Tawi-Tawi and also in Basilan, Sulu, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao provinces after he received numerous complaints from the public and environmentalists who are opposed to destructive mining methods.

Photos of nickel mining operations in Tumbagaan Island posted on Facebook also showed huge trucks and barges hauling off red soil, which was allegedly being shipped to China where it is processed. There were previous reports indicating that Tumbagaan Island was totally devastated because of mining explorations and the nickel mining activities there and also in Panglima Sugala town.

What happened?

Then President Rodrigo Duterte, who was made aware of the mining devastation on the island, has ordered a stop to all mining operations in Tawi-Tawi. Then Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Duterte was very much concerned about reports that Tumbagaan Island has been completely devastated by mining activities. “The island has, at this point, been mined out. And while rehabilitation efforts are under way, the president is issuing a directive to stop any and all mining,” he said.

Duterte ordered authorities to step up rehabilitation by planting trees in areas devastated by nickel mining. But surprisingly, Duterte did not order an investigation into the mining in Tawi-Tawi or who were or groups behind environmental destruction, and why it was not acted upon by DENR, particularly the Mines and Geosciences Bureau. Environmentalists said nickel mining activities have destroyed the environment on Tumbagaan Island and other sites in Tawi-Tawi.

The DENR earlier expressed commitment to review mining laws, including small-scale mining, to ensure that standards are updated and that the provision of the implementing rules and regulations takes full advantage of remote sensing and innovation in artificial intelligence. (Mindanao Examiner)