WHEN staunch anti-mining advocate Gina Lopez was rewarded the DENR post, the mining industry was demonized twice over. If not for President Duterte’s statement during the campaign that he would allow mining only if it would follow the “Canadian and Australian standards”, mining pits would have frozen over the moment Gina Lopez started waving clenched fist ala Digong.
The Philippines is beautiful because it sparkles, literally and here’s why: according to the MGB, the country ranks fifth in the world in terms of total mineral reserves. The country is rich in gold, copper, nickel, and chromite. Usually, when there is copper there is gold. At the top spot is South Africa who is responsible for 79 percent of the world’s gold production.
Despite its colossal mineral reserves, we know that South Africa or Africa in general has remained to be one of the poorest in the world. The same can be said about Grasberg, the world’s largest open pit and underground gold and copper mine. Ironically, Grasberg is near the Philippines -- in Papua, Indonesia.
And probably because of Leonardo DiCaprio, we have been reminded that it is not only gold but also diamonds that are being harvested in Africa. But like what Gina Lopez has said “where there is mining, there is poverty”.
The mining sector claims it contributes to the income of the country because of the taxes and royalties it pays. The anti-mining says otherwise, even claiming that the taxes derived from cigarettes contribute more.
And on and on.
But aside from clenching fists and hurling expletives, another way of looking at mining is discussing albeit, with palms wide open, using the EITI framework.
The EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) standard is “an international standard that ensures more transparency around countries’ oil, gas and mineral resources. It is developed and overseen by a coalition of governments, companies, civil society, investors and international organizations.”
EITI asserts what is obvious -- that a country’s natural resources belong to its citizens. So, the citizens should have the right to see what their government is receiving from these resources. However, in too many countries this information is not publicly available. EITI seeks this transparency and accountability.
Though its standards are seen by member countries as robust its methodology is flexible and adopts to address the specific issues each country is facing. When implemented, the EITI ensures more transparency in how the country’s natural resources are governed and full disclosure of government revenues from its extractive sector.
With EITI, “governments benefit from following an internationally recognized transparency standard that demonstrates commitment to reform and anti-corruption, and leads to improvements to the tax collection process and enhanced trust and stability in a volatile sector.”
Companies also “benefit from a level playing field in which all companies are required to disclose the same information. They also benefit from an improved and more stable investment climate in which they can better engage with citizens and civil society.”
Most of all, citizens and civil society benefit from receiving reliable information about the sector and a multi-stakeholder platform where they can better hold the government and companies to account.
There is no knee-jerk advocacy with EITI. Its platform demand that the current mining projects share evidence and those who are against it should also throw in evidence-based data to counter claims.
When he assumed presidency, one of the sectors that then President Noynoy Aquino sought to reform was the mining sector. On July 6 2012, he issued Executive Order No. 79, "Institutionalizing and Implementing Reforms in the Mining Sector, Providing Policies and Guidelines to Ensure Environmental Protection and Responsible Mining in the Utilization of Mineral Resources."
Section 14 of EO No. 79 states that "In order to improve transparency, accountability, and governance in the sector, the government shall support and commit participation in the Executive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)."
On May 2013 or almost a year after EO 79, the Philippines was admitted as a candidate country in EITI.
The EO also mandated the establishment of mechanisms to operationalize EITI in the mining sector, "in consultation with the mining industry and other concerned stakeholders.”
On December 2015, PH-EITI was able to publish its second country report that covered the fiscal year 2013 for the oil, gas, and mining sectors, concerned national agencies and local government units (LGUs).The report also showed a drastic decrease in the figures of unreconciled accounts or discrepancies between what the companies paid and what the government received. This is due to the placement of a common accounting framework, formulated template for stakeholders filling, and a systematic way to draw accurate data.
The unreconciled figures decreased to P2.7 million in 2013 from P58.2 million in 2012. Since figures don’t (usually) lie, EITI is obviously a better forum where natural resource governance can be discussed.