“LET it go, let it go. Can't hold it back anymore. Let it go, let it go. Turn away and slam the door. I don't care what they're going to say. Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway.” And so the song goes...
In a previous column, I mentioned that one will either be appointed or disappointed. Now that the million dollar question has been answered, it seems that the outgoing is outrageously disappointed because of the public rejection from the secret votes that were announced. OMG! Secret voting... And the appointed brings in a breath of fresh air.
The miners are sighing in relief with the appointment of new DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) Secretary Roy Cimatu. It was, however, emphasized by SRAC (Southern Regional Aquaculture Center) that environment comes before natural resources in the DENR. That again is a strong message that what SecGLo advocated as far as environment is concerned will still be on top of the new Sec's list.
Responsible mining was also reiterated, meaning, the miners need to continue putting their acts together and ensure that they comply with existing guidelines. I am not sure if the rise in the happiness index of the miners is because of the rejection or because of the new appointee.
Either way, both sides now have to let go and move forward. I have strong doubts, though, of the “other side” as I see a “storm” brewing from here on. Is this a cause for concern? I don't think so. If you have nothing to hide then there is nothing to fear. We eagerly await the LJ factor in the days ahead. Will we see a new TV show featuring the rejected and her close (very very close daw) “straight” darling? Abangan sa susunod na kabanata...
In the recently held National Conference of the PH-EITI, the 3rd Country Report for the Philippines was presented. The EITI, or the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, is a global standard ensuring transparency of revenues from natural resources. It is a multi-stakeholder initiative led by the government, industry and civil society representatives.
The EITI provides a platform to systematically report on, review, and assess what is being paid by companies and received by governments through a system of bilateral disclosures. The government benefits from following an internationally-recognized transparency standard that demonstrates commitment to reform and anti-corruption, leading to improvements to the tax collection process, and enhanced trust and stability in a volatile sector. Companies 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.
Filipino citizens and civil society organizations benefit from receiving reliable information about the extractives sector, and a multi-stakeholder platform where they can better hold the government and companies to account.
The EITI principles provide the cornerstone of the initiative. They include the belief that the prudent use of natural resource wealth should be an important engine for sustainable economic growth that contributes to sustainable development and poverty reduction, but if not managed properly, can create negative economic and social impacts, affirm that management of natural resource wealth for the benefit of a country's citizens is in the domain of sovereign governments, to be exercised in the interests of their national development, recognition that the benefits of resource extraction occur as revenue streams over many years and can be highly price dependent, recognition that a public understanding of government revenues and expenditure over time could help public debate and inform choice of appropriate and realistic options for sustainable development.
The EITI underlines the importance of transparency by governments and companies in the extractive industries and the need to enhance public financial management and accountability, recognition that achievement of greater transparency must be set in the context of respect for contracts and laws; recognition of the enhanced environment for domestic and foreign direct investment that financial transparency may bring, belief in the principle and practice of accountability by government to all citizens for the stewardship of revenue streams and public expenditure, commitment to encouraging high standards of transparency and accountability in public life, government operations and in business, belief that a broadly consistent and workable approach to the disclosure of payments and revenues is required, which is simple to undertake and to use, belief that payments' disclosure in a given country should involve all extractive industry companies operating in that country, and in seeking solutions, the belief that all stakeholders have important and relevant contributions to make, including governments and their agencies, extractive industry companies, service companies, multilateral organizations, financial organizations, investors, and non-governmental organizations.
Let's see how we go...
"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose." ~ Lyndon B. Johnson