REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS Second Regular Session

House Resolution No.

205G

Introduced by Kabataan Partylist Representative RAYMOND V. PALATINO

RESOLUTION SEEKING AN IMMEDIATE AND THOROUGH INQUIRY ON THE NATURE OF MINING AND LOGGING PERMITS ISSUED AND RENEWED UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT BENIGNO AQUINO III FOLLOWING THE RECENT AND SUCCESSIVE ONSLAUGHT OF ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS IN THE COUNTRY WHEREAS, tropical storm Sendong (international name: Washi) made landfall over Mindanao last December 16, 2011 and triggered a catastrophic flash flooding which makes it the deadliest cyclone to hit the Philippines in the last 12 years. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), a total 1,257 people were killed mostly due to the flash floods caused by Sendong, while 4,658 others were injured and 98 missing as of January 4. 2012; WHEREAS, days after the onslaught of Sendong, another series of flash floods and landslides ripped through many provinces including Cebu, Davao, Bukidnon, Maguindanao, Compostela Valley, Negros, Leyte and Aklan in southern Philippines; WHEREAS, last January 5, a landslide tore through a gold-mining site in Sitio Palo Diat, Barangay Napnapan in Pantukan, Compostela Valley and left 36 people dead and 36 more missing according to the NDRRMC; WHEREAS, the recent environmental tragedies that wreaked havoc in the country during the past few weeks are indeed a cause for alarm and should prompt the government to review pertinent environmental laws, especially on mining and forestry, that have been proven to be decrepit and disastrous; WHEREAS, in light of the recent natural and man-made disasters that have claimed the lives of many innocent Filipinos, an assessment of the government's issuance and renewal of mining and logging permits since President Benigno Aquino Ill assumed into office is definitely in order as it will be an opportunity for various stakeholderspolicymakers, 1

environmental and science communities, and the Filipino people most especiallyto weigh in on the seriousness and sincerity of the Aquino administration to implement reform measures seeking to protect the environment; WHEREAS, the need to look at the mining and logging permits issued and renewed under the Aquino administration is only necessary to determine the extent of the damage brought about by the unabated mining, logging and deforestation activities permitted by the Aquino government through these permits and raise alarm over these legalized activities that may lead to similar and even worse environmental disasters in the future; WHEREAS, various environmental and science groups have took notice of the Aquino administration's dangerous espousal of a pro-mining stance that, similar to the position of past administrations, promotes foreign and large-scale mining. While it has rejected 903 pending mining applications, it has favorably endorsed 247 foreign-backed applications for processing. According to the environmental advocacy group Center for Environmental Concerns- Philippines, the Aquino administration, as of March 29, 2011, has approved 785 mining agreements, including six Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements, 339 Mineral Production and Sharing Agreements, 115 Exploration Permits, 57 Mineral Processing and Production Permits, 212 Industrial Sand and Gravel Permits and 56 lease contracts. These cover 1,042,531 hectares or three percent of the country's total land area; WHEREAS, the liberalization of the country's mining industry through Republic Act 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 has led to the massive plunder of our natural resources by foreign mining firms and triggered some of the Philippine's worst ecological disasters. Specifically, mining activities increase the vulnerabilities of areas and communities not only to landslides but to other mining-related incidents as well; WHEREAS, commercial logging firms allowed by the government to operate have also been wreaking considerable damage to the country's vast forest cover. While illegal loggers do contribute to the deforestation problem, the primary culprits in the destruction of our forests are the legal commercial loggers whose insatiable desire for profit have led to massive floods and landslides, eventually killing Filipinos in surrounding and nearby areas; WHEREAS, it is an alarming fact that the Philippine forest cover is now down to an estimated six percent of the original forest habitat, and it remains threatened because an average of 157,400 hectares are being lost to deforestation every year. Philippine forests have been in rapid decline since in early 1900s when the American colonial government implemented colonial logging in the country. According to environmental group KalikasanPeople's Network for the Environment, Aquino should immediately halt commercial logging in virgin and secondary forest and conduct massive forest rehabilitation using native Philippine 2

forest trees; WHEREAS, according the provisions of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is the "primary government agency responsible for the conservation, management, development and proper use of the State's mineral resources including those in reservations, watershed areas, and lands of the public domain." The law further bestows upon the DENR Secretary the authority to enter into mineral agreements on behalf of the Government upon the recommendation of the Director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB). The MGB, meanwhile, is tasked to have direct charge in the administration and disposition of mineral lands and mineral resources. The law further states that the MGB Director "shall recommend to the DENR Secretary the granting of mineral agreements to duly qualified persons and shall monitor the compliance by the contractor of the terms and conditions of the mineral agreements"; WHEREAS, pursuant to DENR Administrative Order No. 99-53 which provides for regulations governing the State's Integrated Forest Management Program, the processing of Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) applications is subject to the approval of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office, the Provincial Environmental and Natural Resources Office, the Regional Environment and Natural Resources Office, the Director of the Forest Management Bureau and the DENR Secretary. As defined by DENR AO No. 99-53, the IFMA is "a production-sharing contract entered into by and between the DENR and a qualified applicant wherein the DENR grants to the latter the exclusive right to develop, manage and protect and utilize a specified area of forestland and forest resource therein for a period of 25 years and may be renewed for another 25-year period; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, AS IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, that an immediate and thorough inquiry on the nature of mining and logging permits issued and renewed under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III be conducted following the recent and successive onslaught environmental disasters in the country. Adopted,

HON. RAYNJO^VD V. PALATINO Representative, Kabataan Partylist