ENVIRONMENT Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez should make public the guidelines for the multimillion-peso trust fund she now requires suspended mining firms to establish before they are allowed ship out their ore stockpiles.
The call came just as Rep. Roberto Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte also asked Lopez why she continues to depend on former Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MBG) Director Leo Jasareno, who no longer has any role at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Barbers asked Lopez to be transparent since it was also Jasareno who had approved the permits of the mining companies she had suspended.
Speaking during the Kapihan sa Annabel’s forum, Rodolfo Javellana, president of Water for All Refund Movement and United Filipino Consumers and Commuters (WARM-UFCC), said his group has written to Lopez and asked for clarification about the January 30, 2017, memorandum she issued requiring all suspended mining companies to set up a trust fund of P2 million per hectare of disturbed land before they can be allowed to remove their stockpiles.
“We would like to be enlightened on the January 30, 2017, memorandum you issued to all suspended mining firms setting requirements before they can be allowed to remove the stockpiles, particularly the condition for the opening of a trust-fund account in the amount of P2 million per hectare of disturbed land,” Javellana stressed.
DENR documents showed that on January 30, 2017, Lopez issued the questioned memorandum that ordered all suspended mining firms to open trust funds if they want to secure their mining ore export permits (MOEP).
Javellana said this requirement appears to separate from the trust fund that the DENR requires for the rehabilitation of mining areas that had shut down, or their all of their mineral reserves extracted.
In the assailed memo, Lopez said: “This Office is allowing the removal of said stockpiles on condition that the following requirements are complied with…[that] [t]he mining contractor concerned shall place in a trust fund the amount of P2 million per hectare of disturbed land, to be used to further mitigate the adverse impacts of the operation to the environment and to the actual communities.”
Javellana said that, while the intention of the trust fund is commendable at the outset, it is also very disturbing since Lopez now requires mining companies to set up non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to manage the trust fund based on the guidelines set by her office.
Lopez also retains the right to choose who would receive the funds and she even has a hand in the drafting of the documents establishing the NGOs through a specific law office.
“Gusto po naming malaman kung itong mga kumpanya na itinayo na non-governmental organization para i-manage ang trust fund, meron po bang relasyon doon sa mga namumuno sa DENR? Kung ito ay may relasyon, ito po ay malinaw na pangba-blackmail at malinaw na pangho-hostage sa mga negosyante dahil sila ay kailangan din tumalima sa kanilang kontrata pero para ilabas ang mga produkto na ito. Pero hindi nila ito mailalabas kung hindi sila aayon doon sa tinatawag na trust fund,” Javellana pointed out.
Javellana said Lopez should be transparent on the issue of the trust fund because it should be the public that should benefit from it and not the businesses that are engaged in the supposed rehabilitation programs.
He then cited Environment Undersecretary Philip Camara, who used to be the president and chief executive officer of Biochamp Association, a company engaged in mining rehabilitation.
The consumer group leader said Lopez should make public the contracts involved in the setting up of the trust fund in order to avoid any conflict of interest.
“Kaya tinatanong namin si Secretary Gina Lopez, ano ang relasyon nung inilabas niya na memorandum order noong January 30, 2017, at nagkataon lamang ba na ’yung Biochamp ay kanilang inirekomenda? Hindi po ba ito’y malinaw na conflict of interest? Binulabog nila ang sambayanang Pilipino, ang sitwasyon ng ating bayan ano ba talaga ang motibo? Kalisakasan ba o negosyo lamang ba? Kaya hinihintay po naming ang kasagutan ng DENR sapagka’t ito ay malinaw na pananagutan nya sa taong-bayan kung saan mapupunta ang bilyun-bilyong piso patungo sa trust na ito,” he said.
For his part, Barbers said Lopez should explain why she has allowed suspended mining companies to remove and export their stockpiles even when they are suspended.
“There are reports that they are continuously giving contracts to operators and bakit nakakapag-export ang mga iyan kung suspended? Madam, baka napapalusutan ka?” Barbers asked.
The lawmaker also said Lopez’s decision to retain Jasareno, when he no longer has an official position in the DENR, is highly questionable.
“As far as we know, ang contract ni Jasareno expired last September 2016 and from October until now wala pang effective contract itong si Leo Jasareno,” Barbers said.
He noted how Lopez has become dependent on Jasareno on important issues.
“In all the important appearances of Secretary Lopez doon sa Kongreso, sa Senado, sa Commission on Appointments, nandoon na lang nadudugtong si Jasareno. Kapag magtatanong kay Secretary Lopez sasabihin niya: “Leo what is this, Leo what is that? Leo can you please explain? Leo can you do that? Leo can you do this? What is his role?” Barbers added.
The MGB earlier issued a notice stating that since September 30, 2016, Jasareno is no longer connected with the bureau.
Barbers told Lopez that instead of retaining Jasareno, who headed the MGB for more than 10 years, she should have filed charges against him and some people in the DENR who have been remiss in their duties to guard the environment.
“In fact, iyong mga environment destruction o iyong pagkasira ng bundok e hindi naman po nangyari overnight iyan. Nangyari iyan over a period of 10 years or even more. Sino ba ang nagpirma ng mga kontrata? Sino ba ang nagbigay ng permit sa mga kumpanyang iyan? Hindi ba MGB, sila Jasareno at iyong mga former secretaries? I think the good secretary must run after those people. We want transparency. File charges against all these people kasi hindi nila ginagawa ang trabaho nila,” he maintained.