Legal disputes seen once DENR insists on mine closures

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez expects to see court disputes should the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) have its way in unilaterally shutting down mining contracts.

Lopez told the Inquirer in a roundtable discussion with the Inquirer last week that mining firms were bound to act if due process was not followed in the DENR’s crackdown on the industry.

“That would mean court cases. There would be investment dispute settlements. I don’t want to think about that because that shouldn’t happen. The MICC would disagree with that if that were the case,” he said in Filipino, referring to the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) where he sits as a member.

He said this would be the likely consequence should Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez have it her way, following her order of closing 23 mining firms and suspending five others.

“If you have an audit and there are deficiencies, you should give time to cure. That’s part of due process. If they were not able to correct, then only then would they be not deserving to operate,” he said.

“You cannot just cancel a contract that has been signed. They put billions there to develop it,” he added.

DTI’s Lopez had previously said that the issue on mining would only undermine business confidence in that sector alone while assuring that the general investment climate of the country remained attractive.

However, some quarters disagreed as business groups that were not necessarily in the business of mining have also cried foul over the issue.

For his part, presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Jose Concepcion III echoed the opinion of the trade chief.

“She is really passionate. There is no issue about it, but perhaps your passion and your advocacy should not overlap with your work because there are other people. Mining is not bad,” he said during the roundtable discussion.

DTI’s Lopez, who is currently trying to revive the manufacturing sector, said that the DENR order came at a time when mining firms were transitioning toward more value-added work as opposed to simply exporting raw materials.

The MICC, which is co-chaired by the Department of Finance and the DENR, has recently called for a multisectoral review of the closure and suspension orders in a bid to assure the industry that government actions would be commensurate.

While the review is ongoing, President Duterte has warned that the country could live without the revenues generated by the mining industry. —ROY STEPHEN C. CANIVEL