Lawmaker seeks probe of small-scale mining firms

Rep. Winston Castelo (congress.gov.ph photo)

A big number of small-scale mining businesses being operated by unscrupulous persons, including some rich Chinese businessmen, are depriving the government of billions of pesos in revenues, according to a Quezon City congressman.

Representative Winston Castelo, in filing House Resolution No. 2326, urged the House committee on natural resources to determine the number of small-scale mining operations throughout the country, identify the operators  and their  financiers.

Castelo urged the committee to invite the officials of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and submit a comprehensive report on the existence of small-scale mining operations in the country.

Likewise, Castelo asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to determine how much revenue the government can get from these illegal small-scale mining businesses.

“We just want to know the extent of small-scale mining operations throughout the country and to prove how these small-scale mining operations deprive the government of billions of pesos in revenues,” Castelo said in a press statement.

Compared to small-scale mining operations, Castelo said the legitimate mining companies in the country have provided two million jobs to the Filipino people and regularly paying taxes to the government while being regulated and monitored.

Castelo is also seeking clarification on the ongoing conflict between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the local government units that has resulted in the proliferation of small-scale mining operations in many parts of the country.

Castelo noted the disparity between large-scale mining and small-scale mining wherein large-scale mining companies go through various government bodies for approval to secure their mining licenses while on the other hand, small-scale miners only go through the provincial governor’s office to be able to operate their mining activities.

“Sometimes, the issuance of licenses to these small-scale miners go unmonitored creating a kind of regulatory capture since the small-scale miners usually are the ones that violate environmental laws and the ones that resort to illegal mining practices,” Castelo said.