Published on 10 October 2012 [ manilatimes.net ]
Written by JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ REPORTER
THREE SECTIONS OF IMPLEMENTING RULES
CHANGED FROM MINING GROUP’S PROTEST
The Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR) has officially signed the final version of the
implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Aquino administration’s mining
policy.
The Palace last week approved the
revised mining guidelines.
DENR Secretary Ramon Paje on Monday
signed the approved version of DENR Administrative Order 07-A, or the IRR of
the Executive Order (EO) 79, which contains the revisions to Sections 3, 7 and
9.
“The IRR, which includes the
amendments, will be published in newspapers within the next few days and will
take effect 15 days after the publication,” Leo Jasareno, director of Mines and
Geosciences Bureau, said in a text message.
It will be recalled that the Mining
Industry Coordinating Council was forced to review the initial version IRR,
which was issued on September 10, after the minerals industry declared that a
number of provisions were “patently illegal.”
The latest revision of Section 3
states expired mining tenements as contracts whose 25 or 50-year term have
lapsed. The definition noted that an agreement/contract may be considered
expired after the initial 25-year term, if the parties concerned fail to agree
on the terms of renewal.
Meanwhile, Section 7, which declares
that no new mineral agreements will be granted until a new law rationalizing
revenue-sharing schemes has been approved, was revised to likewise include the
issuance of permits for expansion of existing contract areas “unless there is
an imminent and/or threatened economic disruption, such as a shortage of
critical commodities and raw materials, that could adversely affect priority
government projects and/or economic activities . . .”
Also, the controversial Section 9 was
also revised to define that “mining contracts/agreements that may be renewed
shall be subject to existing laws, rules and regulations at the time of
renewal.”
In the previous version of the IRR,
Section 9, which tackles the opening of areas for mining through competitive
bidding, states that expiring 25-year mining tenements may be renewed by the
qualified tenement holder but will be subject to new terms and conditions
pursuant to the laws that are existing at the time of the renewal.
It also states that expiring mining
contracts may even be declared as a Mineral Reservation.
The provisions were contested by the
Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, which the lobby group stressed were a
direct violation of Section 32 of the Mining Act of 1995.
Section 32 of Republic Act No. 7942
states that mineral agreements shall have a term not exceeding 25 years to
start from the date of execution thereof, and renewable for another term not
exceeding 25 years under the same terms and conditions thereof, without
prejudice to charges mutually agreed upon by the parties.
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