‘FROM LEFT TO CENTER’

Environment Secretary Regina Paz “Gina” L. Lopez — whose crackdown on illegal miners was viewed by critics as hurting potential investments — found herself again addressing media queries as to how she can have her boss’s ear when her latest target involves a presidential appointee, special envoy to the US Jose E. B. Antonio.

The staunch environment advocate last week stopped a housing project at the La Mesa Watershed by a subsidiary of listed property developer Century Properties Group, Inc., whose founder is Mr. Antonio.

“You know what my experience with the President is? It’s that he really has his interest for the common good... Number two, he really doesn’t like corruption,” Ms. Lopez told a media briefing on Dec. 15.

“So it’s in these two aspects that we... have a resonance.”

Before that, local media had reported she and Finance Secretary Carlos “Sonny” G. Dominguez III clashed over mining policy. Mr. Dominguez is a childhood friend of the President and the latter’s major campaign donor who, before assuming the Cabinet post, resigned from the board of Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc., an indirect shareholder in the Tampakan copper- gold mine project.

But the frictions have somewhat eased, Mr. Pernia said in a Dec. 15 interview at his office.

“Gina said she’s going to allow responsible mining, companies that follow the law meticulously,” recounts Mr. Pernia.