PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he was amenable to former Environment Secretary Regina Paz "Gina" Lopez's ban on open-pit mining, citing its bad effects on the environment.
In a chance interview in Taguig City, the President said he had already instructed Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to review the "eventual closure of open-pit mining."
"Open-pit mining is very dangerous environment activity. Gina is right there. Yesterday, I asked General Cimatu, who is the Secretary of DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources), to look into the eventual closure of the open-pit mining," Duterte said.
"I agree with Gina Lopez. That has to stop sometime. But I'll give the mining companies enough elbow room [for] eventual change or the modality of getting what's inside the bowels of the earth," he added.
Lopez, during her stint as DENR chief for less than a year, prohibited the "use of the open-pit method of mining for the extraction of copper, gold, silver and/ or complex ores."
She was replaced by Cimatu after her ad interim appointment as Environment Secretary was rejected by powerful Commission on Appointments.
On August 29, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau said they are in consultation with the Mining Industry Coordinating Council for the possible lifting of the ban on open-pit mining imposed by Lopez.
Lopez, however, appealed to Duterte on Monday not to allow the lifting of the ban on open-pit mining.
"Open-pit mining will really disadvantage the Filipino, our fishermen, forever for life. Please, it violates the constitutional rights of our people. Please don't allow it to be lifted," she urged Duterte. (VoxPop Philippines)
