23 of 27 mines pass government review

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty-three of the 27 mines that were ordered either suspended or shut down last year have passed a review led by an interagency government panel.

“Four failed out 27,” Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin told a press conference Thursday when asked about findings of the Mining Industry Coordinating Council’s review. He did not identify the four “large-scale” miners that failed to meet the panel’s criteria.

The MICC started a six-month review last March. The council initially targeted to finish the review by the end of last year.

The first phase of the examination looked into the legal, technical and environmental concerns hounding the troubled mining operations, while the second part of the review will focus on the “social and economic aspects.”

The results of the assessment are not yet final and are up for the Office of the President’s approval, Agabin said.

In his second State of the Nation Address in July last year, President Rodrigo Duterte warned mining companies to practice responsible extraction of resources, or he will tax them “to death.”

Duterte also rejected the MICC’s previous recommendation to lift the ban on new open pit mines that was enforced by former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, who ordered more than half of the country's metal mines shut on environmental grounds.

According to Agabin, the review team will have another meeting “by the fourth week of July.” — Ian Nicolas Cigaral with BuisinessWorld