MICC review of mining operations legal–Agabin

President Duterte himself had ordered the interagency Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) to review the suspension and closure orders issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on 28 mining operations, the Department of Finance said yesterday.

As such, Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin said, “there was no usurpation of the DENR’s functions by the MICC because the President himself had ordered that the results of the DENR audit be discussed and reviewed, which is within the powers of the MICC.”

In a statement, Agabin said that in a Cabinet meeting on Feb. 7, “President Duterte directed the DOF and DENR to convene the MICC on Feb. 9 and to invite the Solicitor General, the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and the Secretary of Justice to the meeting, so they could comprehensively discuss the results of the DENR audit and Environment Secretary Lopez’s recommendation to shutter 23 mines and suspend the operations of five others.”

In this regard, Agabin said, “it was puzzling why Lopez is claiming that the MICC had no legal basis to undertake a review of mining operations—even though she herself had agreed to the multistakeholder review and signed the MICC resolution to that effect.”

“In response to President Duterte’s directive during the Feb. 7 Cabinet meeting, the MICC determined there was a need to conduct a comprehensive review of the mining operations given the technical nature of the DENR audit and the number of mines involved in the closure and suspension orders,” he said.
In February, the MICC, co-chaired by the DOF and the DENR, issued Resolution No. 6, which called for the establishment of a multistakeholder review of the DENR’s orders.

Lopez and Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III signed the resolution, Agabin said.

The MICC was also ordered to “advise the DENR on the performance of existing mining operations in consultation with local government units.”