Environment dep’t pushes return of export permit rule for miners

MANILA, Philippines - The environment department on Tuesday reiterated plans to resume the issuance of mining export permits (MEPs), with an official saying it expects Malacañang to soon issue an executive order. MEPs, previously removed to streamline steps in exporting, will again be made a requirement to "ensure that the state gets its rightful share from the development of the country’s mineral resources," the department said in a statement. "Many minerals come out of the country undervalued and underdeclared," Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Director Horacio C. Ramos told BusinessWorld in a telephone interview. The statement quoted Environment Secretary Jose L. Atienza, Jr. as saying the proposal would "establish a mechanism to monitor the transport of minerals and mineral products and by-products, to ensure that they are extracted from legitimate sources, pay proper taxes, and that the right tonnage, grade and volume are declared properly." Last month, Mr. Atienza had claimed the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was backing the return of the MEPs. Mr. Ramos said the government was eyeing to crack down on illegal exporters, usually small mining operators without permits from local government units. Small-scale mining operators also tend to produce and sell without determining the appropriate mineral quantity and quality, he added. The MGB chief said the Office of the President would likely be issuing an executive order regarding the export permit requirement, with the Environment department responsible for drafting its implementing rules. Mining permit and contract holders will be required to secure MEPs from the Environment department for outbound shipments of all mineral ore, products and byproducts. "The revival of such requirement has now become necessary in the wake of widespread undervaluation, misdeclaration, illegal exportation of minerals and mineral products," Mr. Atienza said. But Nelia C. Halcon, executive vice-president of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, said the monitoring function can be done by the Bureau of Customs (BoC). "We are streamlining [export processes] and then they will add a policy that has already been removed," she in the vernacular. "The BoC should just carefully examine the export manifesto," she said, adding that the Environment department may be unable to do so given a lack of manpower. — Neil Jerome C. Morales, BusinessWorld