Minerals Action Plan (Map)

A Roadmap for the Revitalization of the Minerals Industry

 

The Minerals Industry plays a significant role in the development of the Philippine economy. For 2003 alone, the Industry registered P41.9 Billion in production, U.S $519M in export earnings and paid P2.1B in taxes and fees. The Industry employed 112,000 workers and provided P4B-P5B in wages and benefits. In addition, 4-10 allied jobs are created for each mining job. The Minerals Industry still offers huge potentials. Mining permits presently cover only 1.4% or roughly 420,000 hectares of the country’s land area. Geologists estimate that the potential minerals (e.g., gold, copper, and chromite) onshore cover an area of about 9 million hectares.

Developments in the Industry, however, is hampered by numerous constraints: perceived policy instabilities arising from the Supreme Court decision nullifying certain provisions of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, overlapping provisions of various laws and certain ordinances of Local Government Units (LGUs); tedious permitting process; public concerns over the environmental and ecological impacts of mining; and inadequate benefits to host communities, among others. These resulted in the decline in the number of operating mines from 58 producing metallic mines in 1981 to only 8 mines in 2002.

Executive Order (E.O.) No. 270 as amended, issued on 16 January 2004 and amended on 20 April 2004, provides for the revitalization of the Industry through the promotion of responsible mining that adheres to the principles of sustainable development: economic growth, environmental protection and social equity. The detailed Minerals Action Plan (MAP) that will implement the provisions of said E.O. was crafted by inter-agency working groups and consists of 32 issues, 57 strategies/action agenda, and 126 specific measures (See attached matrix of the detailed Mineral Action Plan). The MAP was subjected to consultations and already incorporated most of the comments of other government agencies, and the Minerals Industry and Civil Society/NGOs.