Duterte to CA: Allow Gina Lopez to present her case

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday urged the Commission on Appointments to allow Environment Secretary Gina Lopez to present her case.

"You just cannot ignore also the cries of Gina Lopez. I know that we get something like 70 billion in taxes sa mining. But you should also allow Gina to present her case," Duterte said amid a series of events of the Department of Agriculture in Malacañang.

"And I would like to ask Congress to… They are up sa Commission on Appointments, tingnan nilang mabuti and she would show you how devastated the environment is," he added.

"If you’d listen to Gina present her case, this is not a [inaudible] for her but you have to concede something also to the girl. Talagang nagtatrabaho and she has pointed out the so many factors that would eventually affect the environment of Mindanao," he continued.

Duterte said that during the campaign, he saw the mining's effects in Mindanao. He repeatedly presented how a mining site affected the landscape of Tubay, Agusan del Sur.  

"We cannot be allowing diggings forever in the every nook and corner of the mountain ranges. It would spell disaster. Wala akong ano sa mining," he said.

Duterte stressed that he is not anti-mining. He reiterated that he wanted mining companies to follow international standards.

"Maybe if you follow the Australian or the Canadian protocols, how to extract. Open pit kasi lahat eh. And so there’s a -- so many water basins there and it gets into the soil. And that is why kung every just Intensity I or II, because the soil was really loosened and the rocks, the water eats into -- erodes into insides, talagang magla-landslide. Ang landslide pati ‘yung baha," he said.

"Now I want my country to earn so I’m not saying that I’m against mining per se, that I’m against big mining -- far from that actually," he added.

Lopez recently ordered the suspension and closure of mining firms as well as cancellation of mining permits.

The President said that there should be a "happy compromise" on mining. He added that public interest must prevail.

"She has a good case, Gina. And hopefully we can strike a happy compromise there but more I think, on the side of protecting the public interest," he said.

Duterte also revealed that his classmates calling him about Lopez.

"Kaya ako hindi ako nakialam. Never, never.  Maraming tumatawag sa akin mga classmate ko, they wanted me to call Gina, I cannot do that," he said.

"For the life of me, I have never called any Cabinet member for any reason at all. I confront them in the Cabinet meetings but not ‘yung tawag-tawag," he added.

Duterte made the statements ahead of Lopez's confirmation hearing set on Wednesday. — RSJ/NB, GMA News