Alyansa Tigil Mina calls for repeal of ‘unsustainable’ Mining Act

Anti-mining group Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) kicked off what it called "Mining Hell Week" on Monday by renewing its call to scrap the 1995 Mining Act, which allows foreign companies to mine through a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement.

 

"The ATM calls on government to repeal the Mining Act of 1995 and to pass the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB), which offers a far more sustainable approach to the utilization and protection of our country's natural resources," the group said in a statement.

 

It noted that current law allows foreign companies to own Philippine minerals through the Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement. "It permits more open areas to mining than mining-free zones," it added.

 

The group has set March 10 to 14 as Mining Hell Week to commemorate "the tragedies and the irreversible damage mining activities have continuously inflicted on communities since the enactment of Mining Act of 1995."

 

Among the tragedies that the group cited were the Marcopper toxic mine tragedy in Marinduque in 1996, the Philex Padcal mine spill in August 2012, and the Kingking mines landslide in Compostela Valley in 2012.

 

Early this month, the Mining Industry Coordinating Council announced that the clean up and rehabilitation of Philex's Padcal mine has been completed. 

 

“Since the 1990s, the presence of large-scale mining… [has] led to acute changes in the environment and the community,” Jaybee Garganera, ATM national coordinator said in the same statement.

 

"With climate change already upon us, mining disasters are most likely to happen with a flawed mining law and inadequate regulatory environment," he added.

 

Last month, a report by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines showed that the country's mining sector has been lagging. 

 

"Mining hasn't progressed at all. Illegal mining has progressed. The economy is suffering because illegal miners don't pay revenue to the government and people suffer because of the damage they do to environment," said Ian Porter, Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc. president. 

 

"The Philippines has great opportunity in mining and should create a responsible, environmentally-friendly mining regime that could create thousands of jobs," he added. — Rouchelle R. Dinglasan/JDS, GMA News