Malacañang misled?

Amid complaints by local government officials in Zamboanga del Sur, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje stressed he has not issued any new mining permit or tenement since he assumed office.

In his message to presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, sent thru SMS to the Philippines News Agency (PNA), Paje said there was “no new mining tenement issued.”

However, the official list of issued permits of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of DENR shows that the minerals production sharing agreement (MPSA) issued to Mount Sinai Exploration and Mining Corp. on Feb. 18, 2011 or one month after Paje himself issued DENR Memorandum No. 2011-01 upon the orders of President Noynoy Aquino suspending issuance of permits to any kind of application pertaining to mining, is included under the MPSA for mining and not under the MPSA for exploration, contrary to what Paje reported to Lacierda.

This was also the statement of Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Antonio Cerilles, a former DENR Secretary, who said that a month after the DENR suspended accepting all types of mining applications through DENR Memorandum 2011-01, Paje allegedly issued a mineral production sharing agreement to Mount Sinai Exploration and Mining Corp. denominated as MPSA-351-2011-VIII exactly a month later.

Mount Sinai Mining was allegedly given the go-signal by Paje last year to drill a 510-hectare area in Homonhon Island in Eastern Visayas.

Paje, in his message, however, said “it was just a conversion of an existing EP (extraction permit) to an MPSA for exploration, not an MPSA for mining.”

In effect, he said, “the nature of the project remained the same – an exploration project.”

It was Lacierda who gave the official statement through the government communication arm PNA after the misleading report of Paje.

The House of Representatives is set to conduct an investigation on the matter.

It may be recalled that Cerilles raised a howl in a recent Commission on Appointments hearing against Paje on the Special Ores Extraction Permit (SOEP) that DENR released to mining firm Lupa Pigegetawan Mining Company which is reportedly misrepresentingitself as members of the indigenous people in Zamboanga del Norte but whose official address was traced to be in Banilad, Cebu City.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has declared “illegal” and “invalid” Paje’s SOEP and said the power to issue SOEP should be removed from the DENR Secretary as it is against the law.

It was also gathered that more than a year and a half passed since the issuance of President Aquino of Executive Order 23 declaring a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in natural and residual forests nationwide and creating the Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force.

Paje has allegedly failed and has yet to provide guidelines for the evaluation of the performance of and compliance by Integrated Forest Management Agreement holders with the law and DENR regulations.

According to Cerilles, the DENR Secretary’s failure to issue such guidelines has resulted in the opening up of well-protected and responsibly managed tenurial forested areas to illegal logging, poachers and “kaingeros.”

Sereno testimonial

What was originally envisioned as a simple event turned out to be a huge celebration as top officials of the various Supreme Courts and Bar Societies of the Asean countries arrived in Manila to attend the testimonial reception tendered by the Asean Law Association (ALA) of the Philippines in honor of SC Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, according to lawyer Avelino V. Cruz,  ALA Philippines president and national committee chairman.

Those who attended include Brunei Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Haji Kifrawi bin Dato Paduka Haji Kifli; Chief Justice of Indonesia Dr. Hatta Ali, incumbent president, Asean Law Association; deputy chief justice Prof. Paulus E. Lotulung (Indonesia); deputy chief justice Widayatno Sastro Hardjono (Indonesia); Swandy Halim, secretary general, Asean Law Association (Indonesia); John Dekson, officer from the Indonesian Supreme Court; Justice Lee Seiu Kin of the Supreme Court of Singapore; Justice Thanan Wannakowit, Vice President, Supreme Court of Thailand; Justice Surajit Pilankhum, Deputy Secretary, Supreme Court of Thailand; Justice Chinnawat Soopanit, Judge of the Office of the President of the Supreme Court, Thailand; and Alvin Tan from the Supreme Court of Singapore.

They are accompanied by their respective spouses.

The Asean Law Association, which counts as members the 10 Asean countries, provides a forum for interaction between Asean lawyers, judges and teachers of law, resolution of cross-border conflicts, and legal exchange programs.  The Asean Charter which was adopted by the Asean countries in November 2007 designated ALA as the ASEAN’s accredited organization for Law. In 2009, Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan announced that the ASEAN Secretariat would look up to ALA for legal advice.

Before her appointment to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Sereno served in high positions in ALA, including that of deputy secretary general up until 2005. She was also the Philippines’ lead paper writer for the WTO & GATT Workshops of ALA assemblies and was speaker in “GATT and the ASEAN” Conference in Cebu City in December 1994. During her service as professor in UP, she was the Philippines’ leading authority on these two subjects. 

Sereno, along with senior associate justice Antonio Carpio, are currently the representatives of the judiciary to the Philippine national committee. 

The other members of the Philippine national committee are director general of PEZA Lilia de Lima, Prof. Myrna Feliciano, lawyer Alonzo Q. Ancheta, UP Dean Danilo Concepcion, Dean Andres Bautista, (Ret.) Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, (Ret.) Chief Justice Reynato Puno; Ex-officio members: Senators Edgardo Angara and Franklin Drilon, who serves as chairman of the ALA Foundation.

Other officers of ALA are: lawyers Eduardo Hernandez, Victoria delos Reyes, Regina Geraldez, Victoria V. Loanzon, Zorayda Ruth Andan; advisory council:  Justice Ricardo Puno, (Ret.) Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Justice Leonardo Quisumbing, lawyer Teresita Cruz Sison and Dean Bartolome Carale.

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