Partial decisions on MPSA cancellations may come out by July

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said that albeit his focus right now is not really into mining sector, he hopes to come up with decisions on several mining concerns he inherited from former DENR chief Regina Paz Lopez, including the pending appeals made on the cancellation of 75 mineral production sharing agreement (MPSAs).

Unlike Lopez, Cimatu said yesterday that he doesn’t want to put all his attention to the country’s mining sector.

To recall, Lopez had spent bulk, if not all, of her time at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) going after mining companies that she thinks are violating the environmental laws.

As a result of this crusade, 28 companies are now at risk of being closed down or suspended and 75 more may see the cancellation of their MPSAs.

“I have started to go to briefings on mining and I want to concentrate first on the environment sector (in general) because there are several laws that should be made a priority... not that mining is not a priority,” Cimatu told reporters on the sidelines of R&D Congress on Sustainable Urbanization in the course of ASEAN Economic Integration held in Manila.

Nevertheless, he said the DENR is targeting to decide on the appeals made by some miners for the possible cancellations of their MPSAs.

This, as he plans to inspect mining companies in Palawan, Surigao, and Agusan, which he intends to do and complete next month.

“We are actually doing everything to fast-track all these things,” Cimatu said. “At the end of next month, we hope to make some (decisions).”

DENR Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio clarified later on that Cimatu is referring to the assessment on the appeals on MPSA cancellations.

“The result of the review of the appeal will be completed (hopefully) by next month,” Ignacio said in a separate interview, noting that the DENR can only decide on the appeals made directly to the DENR.

Maria Paz Luna, DENR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs, earlier said that there are about 20 companies who went straight to the Office of the President to counter DENR’s decision to cancel their existing MPSAs.

Ignacio said that Malacañang is yet to decide on these appeals until now.

It was reported before that all the companies facing cancellation have already responded to the DENR and the agency was supposed to make a decision on their cancellation in May.

Based on a data from Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), there are currently 339 existing MPSAs right now, of which only 96 are operational.