THE Mining Industry Coordinating Council’s (MICC) teams of independent experts will begin this month the investigation of 26 mines ordered closed by the Environment department under previous leadership last year.

“The interagency Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) is set to begin this January its ‘fact-finding and science-based’ review of an initial batch of 26 mine sites ordered either suspended or shut down last year by the previous leadership at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), following the completion of the list of 25 experts who will undertake this reevaluation,” the Department of Finance — which co-chairs the MICC with DENR — said in a statement on Friday.

The start of the review comes nearly a year since former Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez issued the directive on Feb. 1, 2017, citing violations such as being located in watersheds and the pollution of surrounding bodies of water.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte backed Ms. Lopez’s order, even saying that the Philippines could survive without a mining industry.

In the same statement, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Assistant Secretary Mercedita A. Sombilla said the review “should come up with recommendations on mining-related methodologies and procedures to maximize the benefits of mining and avoid damage.’

That, on top of the “list of inefficiencies/violations/damage done by mining companies that are difficult to address by the DENR alone” as well as the “appropriate penalties that have to be imposed for such inefficiencies/violations/damage done.”

Ms. Sombilla said that the review teams should also come up with measures to deter futuref violations and damage to the environment and the surrounding communities.

She added that the team should also recommend amendment to laws or implementing rules to “ensure the development of a responsible mining sector.”

“The final report will be a consolidated one. We will not see individual reports for each of the mines. It’s going to be consolidated. It’s going to be general — the key results that will come out of the 26 mining sites,” Ms. Sombilla said.

She said that the teams were given three months to complete their reports.

The five teams will investigate the legality of the closures, and arrive at comprehensive recommendations covering the economic, technical, and social implications of the order.

MICC earlier said that it will tap the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) to implement and manage the “fact-finding and science-based” review process on these mining operations.

The council has said that that the review groups will be based on mine location and type of ore. The first team will investigate gold, copper and nickel mines in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, and Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan; the second team is to investigate iron and nickel mines in Central Luzon; the third team will look into chromite, nickel and iron mines in Eastern Visayas and Caraga; while the fourth and fifth teams will handle nickel and chromite mines in the Caraga region.

The MICC in October agreed to conduct another review in 2019 and succeeding ones every two years thereafter, in keeping with the MICC mandate under Executive Order No. 79 to review all mining operations every two years. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

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