SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. called on Environment Secretary Lito Atienza and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to “rein in” their subordinates who are suspected to be in collusion with big mining interests, making a mockery of mining laws, especially in Santa Cruz town in Zambales.

“In the last few days, I gather from reports that Benguet Corp. had extracted some 150,000 metric tons of nickel ores from Santa Cruz without an environmental clearance certificate and without mayor’s permits,” Pimentel said.

“The extraction has reportedly been allowed by a Mr. Horacio Ramos, supposedly director of the Bureau of Mines of the DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] on the pretext that the tonnage extracted was needed for bloc sampling.”

Pimentel pointed out that this is a clear case of evading the law that requires environmental clearance for those engaged in mining in any part of the country.

“How can ‘bloc sampling’ justify the extraction of 150,000 metric tons of nickel ores and their shipment in three ships to a destination in China? At an estimated $30/MT, the ores extracted and being shipped would cost some $4.5 million. A lot of money in any language for the investors and their cohorts but hardly for the people of Santa Cruz,” Pimentel said.

He added that Benguet reportedly opened up roads in the municipality of Santa Cruz without even a by-your-leave to the local government authorities.

“If true, that would be rank insult and misuse of power by the powerful. We are not against mining. But we would like the miners to observe the laws of the land before they begin their mining activities,” the senator said.

According to Pimentel, the DENR and the Department of the Interior and Local Government should “instruct their subordinates to desist from being used for unsavory and even illegal activities by mining interests.”

DAVAO CITY—The country loses some P50 billion yearly in postharvest wastage of crops, fruits and vegetables, with palay turning in more losses enough to turn around the huge import requirement for rice, a Department of Agriculture research bureau said.

FURNITURE exporters in Cebu project the demand for their products in the United States will pick up again once the election period is over in November this year.

SENATE Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. called on Environment Secretary Lito Atienza and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to “rein in” their subordinates who are suspected to be in collusion with big mining interests, making a mockery of mining laws, especially in Santa Cruz town in Zambales.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has procured and installed 500 out of the 1,000 flatbed dryers it was planning to put up in 37 rice-producing provinces across the country this year.

EXECUTIVES in development markets will increasingly look to countries belonging to East and South Asia for new talent, as the businesses are finding it increasingly tough to recruit and retain skilled employees in their own home countries, according to a survey published recently by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).