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Saturday, September 20, 2008
Mining-rich LGUs beg for mining share
DAVAO CITY -- Having rich mineral resources does not necessarily make a rich province. This is the fact shared by two governors in the Davao Region whose provinces are host to mineral-rich resources: Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental.
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The two governors are in fact calling on the National Government to allow large-scale mining industries to directly remit the share of the province in the rights and royalties that the mining companies pay.
At present, the rights and royalties that can be earned by the province are directly transmitted to the National Government, which will then provide the 40 percent share of the province.
"We even have to beg from the National Government for our share," Davao Oriental Governor Cora Malanyaon said during her speech at the Mindanao Mining Summit Friday at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao City.
The measly revenues that the local government units (LGU) receive from the mining industry are among the most common complaints raised by the LGU sector during the summit.
The same sentiment was echoed by Compostela Valley Governor Arturo T. Uy, who said his province has also not gained much from the mining operations in his province.
In his presentation, Uy revealed that the Provincial Accounting and Treasurer's Office only got P1.3 million in 2007 and P1.04 million as of August 2008 from mining and sand and gravel industries.
Despite the presence of numerous large-scale mining firms in the province of Compostela Valley, the highest revenue it got in the last eight years was only P1.83 million in 2006.
Uy then proposed that large-scale mining companies should secure the endorsement of the Provincial Government of Compostela Valley even before starting to do mineral exploration.
"We just passed an ordinance, just recently, to see to it that any big mining applicant...should first get an endorsement from the province," Uy said in an interview during the opening of the mining summit last Thursday.
Uy was also looking at the possibility of taking mining fees "if that is legal for us to impose."
He said he was dismayed with the meager revenue that the Provincial Government had been getting from the mining industry.
In presenting the result of the workshop on Governance, Peace and Order, Arnulfo Lantaya of Pantukan said "LGUs don't get equitable share from the national coffers on time."
In its resolution, the group pushed for the passage of the "Domogan Bill" which proposes that 40 percent of the taxes that mining companies pay to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) should be retained instead of being sent to the national treasury.
Lantaya also said the Domogan Bill proposed to increase the internal revenue allotment (IRA) of LGUs with mining industries.
The Governance, Peace and Order workshop group urged the business sector to lobby for the passage of the bill viewed as favorable to the LGUs.
The bill also proposes that mining investors should be required to establish a satellite office in the area where they conduct their mining activity. (CPM/Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (September 20, 2008 issue)
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