CEBU Governor Gwendolyn Garcia is seeking to revoke the Provincial Government’s Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) with Dolomite Mining Corp. (DMC), a mining firm based in Alcoy, southern Cebu.
The governor made the announcement during her meeting with DMC president Cesar Omnes and his legal counsel Raymund Martelino, on Wednesday, August 9, 2023.
Garcia was joined by Provincial Legal Officer Donato Villa, Provincial Treasurer Roy Salubre, and Executive Assistant Bret Monsanto.
Garcia noted that DMC has disregarded provincial ordinances that ordered the Philippine Mining Service Corp. (PMSC) to stop its operations in the province, by continuing to supply raw materials to PMSC.
DMC, a Filipino-Japanese-owned firm, entered into an agreement with the Provincial Government to mine dolomite in Cebu for 25 years or until 2030.
Cebu has a rich mineable deposit of dolomite.
Halt operations
In October 2020, Garcia first issued an order for PMSC to halt operations in Barangay Pugalo, Alcoy, following its failure to pay taxes to the Provincial Government as stipulated in a provincial ordinance.
While DMC settled its tax obligations for 15 years to the Provincial Government last April, the governor is seeking to revoke its MPSA with the company because of its continuing business with the PMSC.
The governor noted that PMSC’s defiance to pay its dues is disadvantageous to the Province, considering that the company is making money out of Cebu’s natural resources.
Executive order
Last February 17, Garcia issued an executive order reiterating a prior directive for PMSC to immediately stop from further processing, selling and transporting dolomite, associated mineral deposits and other quarry resources due to violations of local tax and environmental laws.
However, PMSC defied the order by buying over 2.5 million metric tons of mineral resources extracted by DMC, the mining leaseholder in Alcoy, from September 2020 to December 2022, according to data obtained from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).
In a report, the Cebu Provincial Information Office through Sugbo News said such minerals, unless disproved by PMSC, were processed by the corporation despite the express order from the governor for it to refrain from doing so.
For many years, raw dolomite quarried by DMC was delivered to its sole buyer, PMSC, for processing into various desired sizes and marketable products. (ANV / TPT)