MICC pledges to complete review of contested mine operations by July

The government is hoping that the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC)-led review on some of the country's mining operations would finally start next month so that by July, all the issues surrounding the disputed results of the mine audit that Environment Secretary Regina Lopez had launched last year will be resolved at last.

To address the concerns regarding Lopez's decision to shut down and suspend a total of 28 mine sites, the MICC resolved to conduct a technical review on all mining operations in the country.

The review would start with the ones being ordered closed and suspended.

Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin said in an interview that the MICC — co-chaired by Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and DENR Secretary Regina Lopez of the DENR — will try to start its own, follow-up mining review in April.

"We will try (to start the review) by April but it's Holy Week two weeks from now. But we will definitely try to come up with a final list (of the review team) next week," Agabin, who also heads the Legal Affairs Group and Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) of the DOF, told reporters after the MICC meeting held on Tuesday.

"We set for ourselves a deadline of three months and we are still going to pursue that target," he added.

After the review, the MICC will present the findings and submit its recommendations to the Office of the President, which shall make a final decision on the DENR's closure and suspension orders.

Agabin said the MICC is hoping that by the end of the review, the government would already know how to deal with the impacts of possible mine closures and suspension, which includes revenue losses on the part of local government units as well as mass layoff.

An estimated budget of R50 million has been requested by the DOF from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the conduct of the review.

"We are still talking to them. I believe we can well justify the budget," Agabin said.

The MICC is forming five interdisciplinary technical review teams (TRTs) for the said audit and it is now on the process of hir-