DENR: Mining reforms led to 'satisfactory' rating in int'l index

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Sunday credited reforms initiated by President Benigno Aquino III for the "satisfactory" rating received by the Philippines in a study by a New York-based think tank. In a statement, DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said Aquino's Executive Order 79, issued in July last year, provided the "perfect vehicle" for reforms in the country's mining industry. “The international community has noted the comprehensiveness of our mining laws and how they facilitate transparency, accountability and open or fair competition,” Paje said. The Philippines received a “partial” score of 54, ranking 23rd out of 58 countries, in the Resource Governance Index released by New York-based Revenue earlier this month. The Philippines “ranked in the top half of countries surveyed on all four components, suggesting that the government has made meaningful progress toward improved resource governance,” read a country brief posted on the Revenue Watch website. The rating came months after Aquino issued E.O. 79, which aims to provide a more equitable revenue-sharing scheme, strengthen environmental protection and promote responsible mining in the country. The Aquino administration has also stopped issuing mining licenses while it revisited the nearly two-decade old law governing the industry.   Last week, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the Executive Department has finished its version of the mining revenue regime to be presented before the Chamber of Mines, a key private sector stakeholder in the minerals industry. Aquino has also earlier asked economic managers to come up with a bill amending the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 amid heightening issues on revenue sharing between the national and local governments. — Andreo Calonzo/BM, GMA News