Need for a clear policy

“The confusion created by the mayor’s actions is clearly the result of a lack of definitive policy in regard to mining.

Even before President Duterte could warn mining companies from destroying the environment during his third State of the Nation Address or SoNA, a local chief executive of a municipality in Negros Oriental had ordered either the closure of/or by preventing mining firms from operating in his locality.

And for this action, Ayungon Mayor Edsel Enardecido and his son, Kieth, ended up hailed before the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas.

The complaint for robbery/extortion, grave misconduct, oppression and grave abuse of authority filed sometime in October of last year is yet to reach preliminary investigation before the Ombudsman. Perhaps emboldened by the President’s warning to mining companies in the country during his SoNA on 23 July, the mayor on 26 July ordered the closure of another mining company in his locality.

Ordered closed on the ground of failing to secure a mayor’s permit was Good Yield Resources Development Inc., a company engaged in the mining and quarrying of silica in Looc, Tampucon 1 in Ayungon.

While this corner was told that the company ordered closed by Enardecido immediately filed a protest over the mayor’s action, it could not as yet be confirmed if it also filed a case against the mayor.

In October last year, Pilipinas Eco-Friendly Mining Corp. and Logistics and Technological Solutions Inc. filed a case against the mayor and his son.

They accused the Ayungon mayor of whimsically and capriciously ordering the closure of the gates of the municipal port in the town’s Looc district in April last year. The closure order prevented the mining company and its hauling group from engaging in quarrying activities and bringing the quarried materials to the port for shipping to their end-user client companies in various parts of the country.

Enardecido explained later that even before the complainants could file their complaint before the Ombudsman, he had already ordered the reopening of the port gates. But complainants seem interested to seek resolution from the Ombudsman.

It is not our intention to pass judgment on the actions of Enardecido. That is for the courts to decide. But the confusion created by the mayor’s actions is clearly the result of a lack of definitive policy in regard to mining in the country.

We all remember the ruckus that marred the industry when then Environment Secretary Regina Lopez ordered the closure of several mining companies that supposedly failed to pass her department’s audit on compliance with environmental impositions on their operations.

“The closure order prevented the mining company and its hauling group from engaging in quarrying activities and bringing the quarried materials to the port.

Lopez, to recall, was advocating a total ban on mining arguing this economic activity is destructive to the environment yet contributes to the national coffers with miniscule amounts in the form of taxes. But people in the mining industry, understandably, fought tooth and nail in opposing the total mining ban stance of Lopez.

It was even viewed by many that her appointment as environment secretary was scuttled at the powerful bicameral Commission on Appointments exactly because of her total mining ban stance. Indeed, such stance is impossible to embrace given mining’s role in development. This corner can just imagine where we will get the steel we need in building public and private, vertical and horizontal infrastructures if mining is totally banned.

Enardecido’s action might pose problems to a wide array of concerns if not checked. Silica is an indispensable component in the manufacture of cement and glass. Without cement and glass will the country’s vertical and horizontal projects by the government or the private sector ever materialize?

The need to issue a definitive policy in regard mining could not be overemphasized to prevent local chief executives like Enardecido from wreaking havoc on the economy without them even realizing the damage they have caused.