Business wins, ‘clobbered’ DENR chief says after ouster

IN LESS THAN 10 months, Regina “Gina” Paz L. Lopez ordered the closure of more than half the mines in the Philippines, cancelled dozens of contracts for future projects and banned open-pit mining.

Her radical reforms eventually proved too radical even for a country with a strong anti-mining lobby led by the influential Roman Catholic Church.

On Wednesday, lawmakers rejected Ms. Lopez’s appointment as environment minister.

“It was not my dream. It was a dream and a promise that we had for the country and it is unfortunate that business interests have in fact run the day,” a visibly distraught Ms. Lopez told reporters shortly after the outcome was announced.

“You’ll get clobbered... anyone who’s here if they have the guts and the courage to step on business interest you’ll get killed.”

Ms. Lopez’s reputation as a fiery environmental crusader was the main reason why President Rodrigo R. Duterte appointed her as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on June 30 last year.

True to form, she launched a mining review the following week, eventually suspending 10 mines before the year was over and warning 20 more were at risk of being halted for environmental breaches.

She raised the stakes in February when she ordered the closure of 22 of the country’s 41 mines. She followed it by cancelling 75 contracts for undeveloped mines and just last week banned open-pit mining, which she blames for causing extensive environmental damage.

Ms. Lopez’s rejection by the Commission on Appointments is final and a mining group said it would seek to reverse her controversial measures which were largely supported by Mr. Duterte. His spokesman said Mr. Duterte would respect the panel’s decision.

The Philippines is the world’s top supplier of nickel ore, used by China for steel production, and metals traders said suspended nickel mines could reopen. Nickel futures on the London Metal Exchange slumped more than 2% as news of Ms. Lopez’s ouster spread.

Mining stocks rallied, allowing the mining sub-sector to defy broad declines. The Philippine Stock Exchange index sank 0.27% to 7,682.26, while the mining sub-index rose 2.72% boosted by Philex Mining Corp. (1.31%), Nickel Asia Corp. (1.05%), Global Ferronickel Holdings, Inc.

(1.47%), Benguet Corp. (15.56%), and Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (8.42%).

“RELIEVED”

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines said it would seek the reversal of Ms. Lopez’s moves to close mines and ban open-pit mining as soon as a new minister was appointed.

“We feel that those have no legal foundation,” said Chamber spokesman Ronald S. Recidoro. “There were no proper consultations held. And more importantly it’s really out to kill the mining industry.”

“So we are relieved that this is finally over and that the CA has voted to reject her nomination,” Mr. Recidoro said in a phone interview.

Political analyst Ramon C. Casiple, executive editor at the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform ( IPER), believed that “the process took longer basically because the lobby of advocacies.”

“Personally, I don’t think there is a basis except for interests involved,” Mr. Casiple said.

‘POLITICAL SURVIVAL’

Mining is a contentious issue in the resource-rich Southeast Asian country after past examples of environmental mismanagement, including a 1996 tailings leak at Canadian-owned Marcopper Mining Corp’s copper mine in Marinduque that contaminated rivers.

Popularly known as Gina, Ms. Lopez is the daughter of Eugenio Lopez Jr., the former head of media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corp. Her family is one of the Philippines’ biggest business clans, with interests in property, power, manufacturing and construction.

At 18, she left a life of privilege behind in the Philippines, took a vow of celibacy and became a yoga teacher and missionary in Africa, living in slums among the poor.

She spent 11 years in Africa, during which time she married and had two children. But the marriage fell apart after eight years.

Ms. Lopez had no qualms about attacking the powerful and flouting convention, taking her cue from the country’s bluntspoken president, Mr. Duterte, whose war against illegal drugs has led to the killing of thousands of people.

“If political survival entails my falling short of my principles, it is not worth it,” Ms. Lopez told Reuters in February.

Last month, she said Mr. Duterte had given her the go-ahead to work with communist rebel fighters to help rehabilitate and develop the country’s mining areas.

“If nothing is done now to preserve the country’s environment and natural resources, it will not be done ever,” Ms. Lopez said on Tuesday, shortly after lawmakers concluded confirmation hearings.

But she had struggled at the hearing to explain the legal basis for requiring nickel miners that remove their ore stockpiles to set aside an additional P2 million ($ 40,000) per hectare of disturbed land on top of funds already set aside to repair environmental damage.

Mining firm Citinickel Mines and Development Corp. used that as basis in filing before Ombudsman graft and other charges against Ms. Lopez on the day of her ouster. (See full story on page S1/11.)

“We are a nation of laws and not of men,” said Congresswoman Josephine Ramirez- Sato, one of the members of the commission on appointments.

The left-wing group Bayan said Ms. Lopez’s ouster was a victory for “mining oligarchs”.

“An extraordinary chance to protect the environment and the rights of the people has been squandered,” it said in a statement.

Philex Mining is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kongbased First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT Inc. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Hastings Holdings, Inc. — a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. — maintains interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — main story from Reuters with