Taxpayers to pay ultimate price of mining disputes, GFNi says
TAXPAYERS will ultimately shoulder the cost of compensating the mining industry after the Environment department suspended or cancelled the concessions of many miners, should the affected companies prevail in court, an industry executive said.
Lawyer Dante R. Bravo, president of listed Global Ferronickel Holdings, Inc. (GFNi), said that miners deserve “just compensation,” up to “full reimbursement” depending on what the courts rule, should the government be found to have acted unlawfully in ordering the suspension of their operations or the cancellation of their concessions.
Any court-determined penalties “will be collected through taxes. It will be the Filipino people who will shoulder it,” Mr. Bravo said in a briefing in Quezon City on Wednesday.
“As to what extent, I can just imagine…” he said, adding that it may reach “several billion dollars.”
He cited Section 94 of the Philippine Mining Law of 1995 which guarantees miners’ investments against, among others, expropriation or requisition without just compensation.
Mr. Bravo added that miners, such as GFNi, may also file charges against the state for reputational damage resulting from Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez’s recent attacks against the mining industry.
“We did not violate [the law], but we are being labeled as irresponsible.... as violators... [These] are all attacks against our integrity, against our reputation... You cannot simply say it’s freedom of expression. This is directed against us and we are all identifiable because we have MPSAs [ Mineral Production Sharing Agreements] with the government,” he added.
He said GFNi is committed “to exhaust all legal remedies” which may include either appealing to President Rodrigo R. Duterte, whose decision on the matter will be final and executory, or elevating the matter to the courts.
The nickel miner has yet to receive the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ ( DENR’s) show cause order in connection with the announced closure of its subsidiary Platinum Group Metals Corp.
Sought for comment, Ronaldo S. Recidoro, Vice- President for the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines Policy and Legal, said in a phone interview yesterday that affected member-firms will take legal steps “as soon as they receive their notices.”
So far, four listed firms — Benguet Corp.; Lepanto Mining Consolidated Corp.; Marcventures Holdings, Inc. and Nickel Asia Corp. — have indicated their receipt of the DENR’s orders and also their intent to take legal action on the matter.
“[Ms. Lopez] kept saying this is not a matter of law. This is not a matter of due process. This is about social injustice, about hurt,
about suffering. I don’t know what she meant by that and whether she has comprehended basically the effects of her actions,” Mr. Bravo said.
On Tuesday, Ms. Lopez unilaterally ordered the cancellation of 75 MPSAs for mines allegedly operating in watersheds.
On Feb. 2 she ordered the closure of 23 metal mines — some 15 of which are also operating in watersheds — and the suspension of five others after the audit into their environmental management practices launched in July last year.
Listed NiHAO Mineral Resources International, Inc., told the stock exchange yesterday
that it “is prepared to avail and exhaust the legal and administrative remedies” to overturn the DENR decision involving its Mina Tierra Gracia, Inc. operation, which is in the exploration phase.
Aside from NiHAO, Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corp., United Paragon Mining Corp., MacroAsia Corp., and Abra Mining and Industrial Corp. and its subsidiary Jabel Corp., said that they have not received an order from the DENR cancelling their mine permits.
Ms. Lopez has said that the agency will send all show cause orders to concerned firms by Feb. 15. —