AQUINO SIGNS NEW MINING POLICY

 

But Palace to bare details of EO 79 only Monday

President  Benigno Aquino III has signed Executive Order No. 79 spelling out his administration’s policy on mining and will present it on Monday, a Palace source said Friday.

Presidential Communications Secretary Ramon Carandang would not confirm the signing of the much-awaited policy, but he acknowledged that the final draft that was submitted to the President underscored the need to increase the royalties and the taxes levied on mining firms.

Mr. Aquino earlier said that the taxes and royalties collected by the government from mining operations amounted to only 10 percent of their total revenue.

Carandang said the final draft of the order upheld the primacy of national laws over local laws and ordinances.

The primacy of national laws was earlier questioned by some 40 governors including Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, an ally of the President. They threatened to challenge the administration’s mining policy before the Supreme Court once it was signed by the President.

Salceda said the order would allow the national government to override the  anti- or pro-mining policies of local executives.

“There will always be people that would question the EO, but we believe it will be acceptable to most of the reasonable stakeholders,” Carandang said.

Mr. Aquino said the 1987 Constitution was “very, very clear” that national laws would always take precedence.

“If they [the governors] feel that their rights are being trampled upon, by all means they can go to the appropriate courts,” the President said earlier.

He said the government would also impose a mining ban on 78 eco-tourism sites through the executive order.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the new order would recoup some P760 million in forgone revenues due to the failure to collect occupational fees yearly.

“Application and occupational fees are so dated. The department is planning to hike the P50,000 application fee and increase by a thousand-fold the occupational fees,” Paje told reporters on the sidelines of the Environment Department’s 25th anniversary celebration.

“The moment that a particular area is under a company’s name, that company should start paying its dues. No more grace period.”

A mining company is required to pay its occupational dues once it is granted an exploration permit, minerals production sharing agreement or financial and technical assistance agreement.

The Mining Act actually mandates the collection of an annual occupation fee of P5 per hectare for the exploration permit; P50 per hectare for mineral production sharing agreement and financial or technical assistance agreement; and P100 per hectare for mineral reservation.

Mining stocks rose on Friday, bucking the downtrend in other shares amid speculation that the President had signed an executive order on his minerals policy.

The mining and oil counter, one of the six sub-sectors in the Philippine Stock Exchange, advanced 2.8 percent on Friday despite the overall decline of the PSE index. The index dropped 6 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 5,362.68.

The stocks of Lepanto Consolidated Mining and Manila Mining Corp. were among the biggest gainers on Friday. Lepanto Consolidated Mining’s stock price increased 7.3 percent to P1.47.

The stock of Philodrill Corp., which has stakes in several mines, also jumped 5.8 percent to P0.055, while Manila Mining Corp.’s stock rose 5.6 percent to P0.075.

Philex Mining Corp. and Benguet Corp. also saw their stocks rise Friday. With Othel V. Campos/MANILA STANDARD