Thank
you Bebet (Gozun).
President
Rodriguez; incoming president of the Chamber of Mines, Phillip Romualdez.
I would like to also greet my other Cabinet member who's here, Secretary
of Planning Romy Neri, and Congressman Maurice Domogan.
I
would also like to greet the other leaders of the industry: Mr.
Brown, Mr. Robins, Mr. Decini, Mr. Fujimura, Ms. Sandy Prieto-Romualdez,
Mr. Callaghan. And all of you, leaders of the Philippine Mines Safety
and Environment Association, congratulations on your Golden Anniversary!
Congratulations, too, to your golden jubilee awardees! May they
serve as exemplars of safety practices and environmental protection,
and be the concrete proof that you can have mining, you can have
jobs, and you can have concern for the environment at the same time.
And
that is why first and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity
to confirm what our two speakers have already said, that our policy
for the minerals industry is no longer just mere tolerance but active
promotion of sustainable mining.
This
is why, as President Romualdez said, I am the president to address
your whole industry in a long time. Because for a long time, the
policy has been tolerance. And if your industry is merely tolerated,
why should a president bother to give you the time. But I bother
to give you the time because I want to confirm the good news. This
policy shift occurred shortly after I appointed a new Secretary
of Planning, Romy Neri, and a new Secretary of Environment and Natural
Resources, Bebet Gozun. That's why I wanted to make sure both of
them are on stage with me tonight.
Your
foremost advocate is the secretary of economic planning. And I was
already aware of that when I asked him to join the government, my
administration, because he already had a very good microeconomic
program that I felt could supplement the macroeconomic gains I had
made in the first half of my administration. And so I knew that
if I would get Romy Neri as planning secretary, I knew that that
would really mean a big push for the mining sector.
There
were many though who said, "well, Romy is sure to push the
mining sector because he's been very open about that because his
beliefs have been very well known. He's written about them, lectured
about them." but they said, "but the Secretary of the
Environment is an environmentalist. So she will be... And she comes
from the NGO group." and as Phillip Romualdez said, NGO is
equated to anti-mining. But we are all gratified to find that the
Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources is very open-minded
and modern in her approach to mining policy.
When
I first interviewed her -- Bebet, remember? -- before I appointed
her, before I announced her appointment as secretary of Environment
and Natural Resources, we discussed mining policy. And she said
that she believes that for the mining investors who from the very
beginning do their social preparation rather that springing surprises
on the community; if from the beginning they do their social preparation
and engage the community, there is no reason why the investment
will not succeed. And she has been doing that in her work, doing
early social preparation for the mining investments. And though
Mr. Rodriguez said that there's still no single mining firm that
has come in on the ground. Actually, there are two investments in
very advance stages now. And I hope therefore, they will be the
first roots of our policy of pushing sustainable mining rather than
just tolerating it as has been done in many years in the past.
After
all, I'm aware of the big demand for copper, gold and nickel, and
their great potential for creating jobs. And after all, creating
jobs is the most important means of fighting poverty.
And
after all, our historic problem has been the need for economic development
to fight poverty. Because we are not yet a strong state, historically,
our economic development has been slow compared to our neighbors.
That's why it should be a source of pride to us that in the last
two-and-a-half years, we did better than our neighbors. And in the
first 6 months of this year, we achieved a 4.8 percent GNP growth
rate, the sixth highest among the 21 economies of the Asia-pacific
region, and the highest in our country since the 1997 Asian financial
crisis.
If
about a year ago, I announced that policy shift to active promotion
rather than mere tolerance, it was because, in these two years,
more than two years of my presidency, I have been going through
a learning curve. And I have gained the experience necessary to
understand what we need to do in order to change society in a way
that leads to economic development and the elimination of poverty,
especially now with the Asian region starting to recover, our neighbors
are starting to accelerate their growth again. And this time, we
cannot afford to be left behind.
To
really develop our economy and create a stronger republic, we need
to change our system, to institute true reforms in our way of politics
and our economy. And among the reforms I recognized we need to do
is the reform of our mining policy.
Incoming
President Romualdez said, that the national mineral's policy has
been five years in the making, and still no sign of coming to a
conclusion.
I
am very happy to let you know tonight that on December 3rd and 4th,
in the national mining conference, Bebet Gozun will unveil the national
minerals policy. I will leave the details up to her. Otherwise,
you will have no more main feature for your December 3rd and 4th
conference. but I just want to say in general and confirm that it's
my administration's policy to promote responsible mineral resources
exploration, development and utilization to enhance economic growth
in a manner that adheres to the principles of sustainable development.
I
am merely being consistent with what I have been doing since I was
a senator, because as senator, I have sought solutions to the concerns
of the mining industry. And now, as president, we have started addressing
your long-standing concerns. First of all, your concern for a holistic
policy, and that is coming on December 3rd and 4th.
With
regard to specific concerns, not just yours, but the concern of
the community regarding your industry, we have acted, as Phillip
Romualdez said, we have acted decisively on Marcopper and Diwalwal
to end lingering fears of the community. In the case of Marinduque,
of Marcopper, upon the request of the people of Marinduque, I released
20 million pesos of presidential funds to finance the environment
and health study which will recommend the appropriate rehabilitation
strategies for the areas affected by the Marcopper tailings spill.
And
last year, with the help of the Chamber of Mines -- and I must thank
them for it -- we firmly asserted government control in Diwalwal.
As Phillip said, because he's very much involved in it, this ore-rich
mountain shall be a good example of rationalized operations that
allow big players, small scale miners and artesianal miners to co-exist.
The
National Resources Mining Development Corporation was incorporated
in July this year, precisely to promote the mining industry, and
I appointed Dennis Belmonte as president. By the way, he's not the
only mining man that I got into my government, there's also Teddy
Taguinod who is now the chairman and CEO of the Public Estates Authority.
But of course, that's not mining. It is our friend Dennis who is
in mining. And well, what I can say is that -- is Mr. Murga also
from mining? No, okay. Anyway, going back to Dennis. I feel he has
done a yeoman's job of instituting in Diwalwal a new social order
founded on mutual trust and confidence. The construction of an engineered
tailings dam to arrest pollution, I understand, has already started.
Thanks to the Chamber of Mines.
We
want to make the area a showcase of our policy to recognize small
scale mining as a formal sector and put an end to the negative impact
of artesianal and unsystematic operations.
We've
mobilized so many agencies to address this age-old problem in Diwalwal.
There's the DND and the PNP to enforce law and order. Aside from
that DSWD, DOH and other agencies have put up livelihood training,
environmental protection, and public health programs for the most
disadvantaged people in the area, especially the women.
Aside
from addressing this very specific high-profile problems that somehow
have contributed in the past to keeping the policy towards mining
mere tolerance rather than promotion because this sort of gave mining
a bad name, we've also addressed other concerns to push mining investments.
And again, incoming President Romualdez mentioned some of them.
But I would just like to stress that the environmental clearance
certificate, which has been the bane of operation start ups, has
had its processing time reduced significantly under the administration
of Bebet Gozun.
Of
course, aside from the national minerals policy, the other related
framework for mining policy should be the mining act. And while
we are waiting for the Supreme Court to come out with its rulings,
we're in the process of harmonizing the mining act and the indigenous
peoples right's act to facilitate applications of qualified investors.
The supreme court has lately been coming up with important decisions
on many issues that have been pending for a long time. And now,
with the impeachment crisis over perhaps -- and also with the supreme
court having disposed of several other long pending issues -- perhaps
we can soon expect the supreme court to go back to addressing the
pending great policy issues including the mining issue.
Not
that I can speak for the Supreme Court, but if our impeachment crisis
had lingered on and on, then it would have been an even longer wait.
Thus, we can say that even the mining industry benefits from the
three great branches of our government reaffirming their faith in
each other and in a stable national future.
Aside
from fundamental reforms, the impeachment crisis shows also that
we need to unify as a people.
The
Philippine Mines Safety and Environment Association knows the lessons
of unity very well. Beyond advocacy of safety practices, your annual
conference is a prime event because it affords every stakeholder
in the industry a chance of learning and discourse, and above all,
planning together for common advancement.
I
congratulate you for what you have done, not only for your industry
but also for our country. Bebet reminds me that during the great
earthquake in Baguio and other parts of Luzon in 1990, it was your
association that helped in the relief and rehabilitation of the
affected earthquake communities. And with your snap -- safety network
action program -- you are institutionalizing that support that you
have been giving whenever there is a great disaster.
Indeed,
your association has played, and I'm sure will continue to play
a significant role in national development and growth.
And
tonight, I ask the mining sector to help me, not only in creating
jobs, not only in safety and in protection of the environment, help
me also to start the healing process that will give you and the
whole business community and the whole people of the Philippines
a better environment in which to work, do business and live in.
Congratulations!
Happy Golden Anniversary! And thank you.
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