Geological plunder leads to Urduja, Vinta

in this sad sack of a country.

Or should policy be guided by society’s better angels, which would then lead to the rethinking of the country’s lax and tolerant policy toward illegal logging and legal mining?

The answer is depressing on the mining front. Instead of

(Stop Mining) and a bold policy that reins in the excesses and recklessness of legal mining, we are getting mixed signals from government. Mr. Duterte’s public statements are against open-pit mining in particular and mining in general. But on the ground, where real policy is made, the Chamber of Mines appears to be the dominant force in the multistakeholder Mining Industry Coordinating Council. The MICC seems to be dancing to the music of the Chamber.

Not only is there a consensus to reverse the ban on open-pit mining. The mining companies closed during the previous leadership of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, owing to the violation of their stewardship contracts with the state may be opened anew due to a more favorable policy climate at the DENR.

In fact, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the DENR mining industry, sees a “better year” next year. The optimism is well-placed.

a startling possibility a few months back, is now a toxic proposition, like the lethal mine tailings it seeks to stop. The plunder of the country’s geological ecosystem is poised to make a grand comeback next year.

Of course, there is a counter the supposedly objective mining council, the force whose signature can stop mining once and for all. That is President Duterte and a welcome policy from him that would limit mining to the barest minimum. He can easily do that in the context of Urduja and Vinta.

But will he do it? Will he issue an unprecedented EO to stop the geological plunder that routinely ravages his native Mindanao? Your move, Mr. President.