A suitable replacement

The uncertainty hounding the local mining industry cleared a bit last week with the Commission on Appointments’ rejection—on a 16-8 secret vote—of the nomination of Gina Lopez as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, vice chair of the commission, cited the reason for the rejection: “It is not enough that you have passion for the job. It is not enough that you have certain convictions. It’s important, too, that you have every minimum of qualifications for the job. Many of us were uncertain that she had that.”

But more than this is that the commission must have given weight to the stiff opposition of mining companies to Lopez’s appointment. And why wouldn’t it? In her 10-month tenure, Lopez nearly shut down the mining industry when she ordered the closure of 23 mines reportedly located in watersheds, the suspension of five others, and the cancellation of 75 mineral production sharing agreements. Just before the commission issued its decision, Lopez also banned future open-pit mining.

This development leaves one issue that needs to be resolved soonest: What will happen to the controversial orders issued by Lopez? The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines has said it would seek the reversal of Lopez’s orders as it felt that these had no legal foundation, were issued without benefit of proper consultations, and were “really out to kill the mining industry.” We believe the interagency Mineral Industry Coordinating Council will do the Philippines and Filipinos a favor by continuing its assessment of Lopez’s orders, reversing those that are without basis, and enforcing those that rest on valid grounds.

It is also our hope that President Duterte will not appoint as Lopez’s replacement someone who will simply balance environment protection and the interests of miners. He should appoint someone who will make sure that the protection of the environment is paramount and that the interests of business are secondary—in short, someone who will make sure that the likes of the Marcopper Mining disaster and other earlier major disasters will never happen again.

In 2012, two mining disasters happened: a landslide at the country’s biggest coal mine site in Caluya, Antique, that killed five people and trapped many others, and a silt spillage at the mine of Citinickel in Narra, Palawan. Prior to these was the unforgettable Marcopper case in 1996, in which mine tailings spilled out of the company’s mine in Marinduque, dumping some two million metric tons of waste into the 27-kilometer Boac River.

This is the reason the Philippines needs a proactive, not reactive, DENR secretary. It needs someone who will firmly say that a particular area is actually protected under the law before mining activity can even start, and not after, especially in watersheds. As emphasized in an Opinion commentary in this paper last month by Meliton B. Juanico, a retired professor of geography at the University of the Philippines and a licensed environmental planner, “processes occurring in a watershed are interconnected. In particular, activities upstream have effects on the downstream areas. Thus, in a rainy country like ours, unregulated extractive industries like mining and forestry that are located upstream can lead to downstream problems like water pollution, mudslides, landslides, soil erosion, siltation, flooding and eventual destruction of lives and property.”

The Commission on Appointments’ rejection of Lopez’s nomination should not be allowed to become a victory for irresponsible mining. Everyone should help President Duterte find the most suitable replacement for her, someone with the protection of the environment as advocacy and expertise and abides by the rule of law.