Dominguez backs 3-month timeframe for mining review

A THREE-MONTH window for reviewing the closure and suspension orders on mining operations seems reasonable, given how complicated the task is for the technical working group ( TWG) created under the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC), Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said.

“We will do what Agabin said. You look at three months,” he told reporters late Tuesday on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank 50th Anniversary Reception.

Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin, a member of the MICC-TWG, earlier announced a three- month timeframe for the TWG review.

“I will ask them, that’s just an initial estimate. Three months seems to be reasonable. You have to read all the mining contracts, you have to see what they did,” he said.

The MICC issued Resolution 6 after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ordered to shut down 23 mining sites and suspended five others.

The Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) noted in a report that the closure and suspension of 28 mining operations across the country will cost 17 affected cities and municipalities in 10 provinces over P821 million in yearly foregone revenues.

Of the amount, collections of the affected local governments amount to P340 million, comprising P53.54 million in real property taxes ( RPTs), P263.13 million from business tax, fees, charges and other local charges, and P23.29 million from provincial revenues.

The share of local governments from mining taxes collected by the national government accounts for P481.17 million.

Local governments directly collect from mining firms operating in their municipalities and cities real property taxes ( RPTs), local business tax, mayor’s permit fee, regulatory and administrative fees and occupation fees.

Local governments get a 70 percent share from property taxes imposed by cities, while 15 percent goes to percent to the barangay directly affected and 15 percent to component barangays.

From the property tax collected by the province, it gets a 35 percent share while 40 percent goes to the municipality and 25 percent to the barangays where the mining site is located.

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (CoMP) estimated that almost P70 billion in gross production value and close to P20 billion in taxes would be lost if the DENR decision pushes through. About 67,000 jobs are also at risk, it said.

Last year, local governments hosting mining projects received P233.8 million or 40- percent of the P585 million in mining taxes collected from December 2011 to the fourth quarter of 2014.