President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday reiterated his call to end mining, saying the practice could no longer continue because it had “created a monster in the country.”
Duterte’s statement came a day after he called on Congress to “abrogate” the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, in response to a landslide that killed dozens of trapped miners in Itogon, Benguet.
In Isabela for a situation briefing in the aftermath of Typhoon “Ompong,” Duterte said “the time has come when our motherland is overused and abused” by miners, and that “this cannot go on.”
“Even before, I wanted to stop (mining)  but ( could) not for the fact that it is allowed by law. If it is allowed by law, little could I do anything about it. I cannot stop mining because I am not allowed to abrogate any law here, but I want to stop it because it has created a monster in this country,” the president said.
Duterte also said P70bn in annual earnings from mining was nothing compared with the damage it had caused.
“How much (will) P70bn do to the country if you compare it to the losses of the Philippines because of mining. There are a lot of holes in the lands,” Duterte said.
He also called mining “obnoxious, if not downright stupid.”
“Whether it is really boring the hills and mountains from the inside, or carving out as it widens and widens … contrary to what they say, in mining areas there is noreforestation,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“It is, to me, obnoxious, if not downright stupid, these mining people, occupying and mining watershed areas,” he added.
On Monday, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) ordered the suspension of mining operations in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu also revoked the permits of all 10 small-scale mining operations in the region.
A priest called on the government yesterday to order mining companies to “fix” the damage caused by the landslide in Benguet.
“We need to make mining companies accountable. Justice means reparation for the damage,” said Fr Edu Gariguez, executive director of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ National Secretariat for Social Action, in an interview. “The landslide site was a mining site of Benguet Corp. It was one of the areas ordered closed by then Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez in 2017 for not complying with environmental laws,” said Gariguez.
The site, the priest claimed, was subcontracted by Benguet Corp. to small miners.
On Monday, however, the mining company said it had written several letters to the Itogon miners to abandon the area, as it had been classified by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau as a geohazard location prone to landslides.
In a Palace news briefing, the president’s spokesman, Harry Roque Jr, said the suspension of mining in the Cordillera Region was “akin to rehabilitation.”