MICC sets stage for choosing experts who will review mines

THE MINING Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) yesterday set the terms for those who will review mines across the country, weeks after Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez wrote President Rodrigo R. Duterte on March 6 to stop the interagency body from proceeding with its own audit.

MICC officials told reporters in a briefing after the body’s third meeting for this purpose that they have agreed on the general qualifications of the pool of experts that will conduct the assessment.

“We agreed that the members of the team should not be employed or involved with operating mines in the Philippines,” said Department of Finance legal affairs Undersecretary Bayani H. Agabin in a press briefing following the council’s meeting yesterday.

“Conversely, they should not be interested or a member of any anti-mining group or organization.”

Mr. Agabin attended the meeting on behalf of Finance Sec. Carlos “Sonny” G. Dominguez III, who was in Japan with other economic managers to follow up prospective infrastructure financing.

Five five-man teams will be formed for the nationwide review.

Selected experts should have at least 10 years of experience in the fields of economics, environment, law, minerals or social development.

Mr. Agabin said the MICC agreed to form a seven-member interagency subcommittee that will evaluate each prospective expert.

Members of the subcommittee will come from the departments of Finance, Energy, Labor and Employment, Social Welfare and Development, as well as Environment and Natural Resources ( DENR), as well as from the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.

“By next week we’ll try to finish the vetting process and, with that, we hope that the team, having been finalized… can start as soon as they’re chosen,” Mr. Agabin said.

“We recognize that we have to act fast so the CVs will be submitted to the secretariat and the subcommittee,” he added, noting that the MICC now has resumes of 30 prospective experts who will conduct the review.

Asked if the MICC remains committed to its three-month timetable for the review of the 28 of the country’s 41 operating mines that were sanctioned early last month by the Environment department, Mr. Agabin replied in the affirmative.

A number of the sanctioned miners have already filed their appeals with the Office of the President, which is the only authority that can overturn DENR’s decisions on this matter.

Ms. Lopez, who was present at the meeting, reiterated that the MICC’s findings are “recommendatory” — a point Mr. Agabin conceded in the same briefing.

“I didn’t make it recommendatory. That’s stated in the law. I haven’t changed my mind,” Ms. Lopez said.

“It’s (MICC) in no position to tell any Cabinet (member) — the DENR secretary — what to do.”

While noting in an interview over radio station dzMM that “this is Sonny’s idea,” Ms. Lopez said she now welcomed MICC’s review, which will be “deeper… more in depth.”

“I’m looking at the exciting possibility where we have a team of people who really want better lives for our countrymen to go around and come back with exciting ideas of what can happen,” Ms. Lopez said.

“It’s gonna have a far greater caliber than the original one, and we followed due process but I think we all wanna bring it to another level… so I’m okay with that.”

Maria Paz G. Luna, Environment Undersecretary for Legal Affairs, said the MICC will not review DENR’s decision but will assess all existing mines, acting first on the 28 operational mines sanctioned early last month.

“The big picture is there are other things that other agencies can help us with and, therefore, those can inform the fact-finding process.” —