THERE’S a need for a new mining law that will regulate the management of strategic minerals needed for the country’s transition to renewable energy .
Titled “Toward a Just Minerals Transition in the Philippines,” the non-government group’s research paper noted that the Philippines currently produces chromium, cobalt, copper, nickel, and silver—minerals necessary for the production of RE technology. The study notes, however, that the current mining policy regime has resulted in 60 percent of all mineral reserves and 49 percent of all mining projects being in conflict with ancestral domains. It also cited various reports where the extractives sector was linked to a third up to half of the cases of environmental defender killings.Quirino cited the case of the Tampakan Gold-Copper Project that, she said, “has been mired in allegations of human rights violations since its inception years ago.
The Tampakan mine is presently all but ready to operate, Quirino said, save for a local environmental ordinance provision banning open-pit mining. That provision had been previously lifted by the provincial council but eventually vetoed by the governor.