MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte assured Filipinos the government would intensify its campaign against irresponsible mining nationwide to further protect the environment, so future generations can benefit from the country’s natural wealth.
In his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, the President warned about implementing stricter environmental protection policies, including prohibiting open-pit mining.
Miners, he stressed, must radically improve the way they manage their operations and rehabilitate the areas where they mine.
“To the mining industry, I say this again and maybe for the last time: Do not destroy the environment or compromise our resources,” he warned.
The President said the revenue that mining brings the government doesn’t justify the environmental destruction from irresponsible mineral extraction.
“Don’t just give me taxes. I can get these from other sources,” he said, referring to the miners. “But give me what needs to be given to my countrymen.”
All Filipinos must benefit from the country’s minerals, he noted.
Duterte said irresponsible mining is destroying even the country’s aquatic resources, compromising the availability of water and food.
“You can no longer fish in rivers, as these are contaminated,” he noted, citing one impact of mine waste’s flow into the water bodies.
Latest available preliminary data released by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau showed gross production value in large-scale metallic mining, small-scale gold mining, and non-metallic mining collectively reached PHP108.6 billion in 2017.
Taxes, fees, and royalties from mining that year totaled PHP16.18 billion, the data further showed.
The Department of Finance already cited inclusion of mining taxation in the government’s tax reform program. (Catherine Teves/PNA)
