Passage of bill enhancing mining’s fiscal regime sought

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines chairperson is asking lawmakers to finally pass House Bill 8937 to increase government revenues from the mining industry.

In a recent Bloomberg interview, Mike Toledo, chairperson of the Chambers of Mines of the Philippines, stressed that passing into law the proposed measure “would make the country’s mining industry have a competitive and progressive mining fiscal system.”

Last September 2023, the proposed measure was already approved by House lawmakers in the third and final reading, garnering 272 affirmative votes from representatives.

Need to align laws

“There is a need for aligning national and local laws on mining and taxation, ensuring a clear regulatory framework,” Toledo said.

He urged the Marcos administration to lessen the burden of business process application in the mining industry but aired gratification with renewed interest from the Marcos administration.

“There should be ways to facilitate the permitting and regulation of mining projects,” Toledo stressed, further encouraging the current regime to include the mining industry in Investment Priority Projects, calling for incentives for projects benefiting local employment and economic growth.

Hard time attracting investors

Earlier this year, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga admitted that the Philippine government is having a hard time attracting investors into the capital-intensive mining sector.

“We would like to attract investments certainly for value-added processing to come into the country so that we will be exporting not just raw ore,” Yulo said.

Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual earlier maintained that the Philippines has a treasure trove of mineral resources, particularly green metals, such as copper, cobalt and nickel.

He said the country has 2.1 billion metric tons of nickel, 6.9 million metric tons of copper, and 260,000 metric tons of cobalt, the Philippine advantage that he has been bragging about to foreign investors, particularly in the manufacturing of green metals and electric vehicles.

“The World Bank has estimated that production of minerals could increase by nearly 500 percent or over 3 billion tons of minerals and metals to meet the growing demand for clean energy technologies, such as renewable energy and energy storage,” according to the Trade chief.

Passing into law House Bill 8937 ‘would make the country’s mining industry have a competitive and progressive mining fiscal system.