FROM now on, erring mining companies will be made to plant more trees outside their mining tenements as penalty for harming the environment, Director Leo Jasareno of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said on Thursday.
According to Jasareno, mining companies violating the mining law, will be made to plant trees saying the penalty imposed on MarcVentures Mining Development Corp. (MMDC) early this month has now become a precedent, and as such will be the policy of the MGB from now.
This is the first time that the MGB imposed such penalty to a mining company found violating the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and the conditions under its Minerals Processing and Sharing Agreement (MPSA) awarded by the government.
“Similar penalty will form part of the various forms of penalties from now on,” he told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
Director Ricardo Calderon of the Forest Management Bureau (MGB) said such policy is a welcome development.
“We will coordinate with Director Leo to help them identify areas where they can plant these trees,” Calderon said.
Calderon is the national coordinator of the National Greening Program (NGP) which targets to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares by 2016.
It will be recalled that the MGB has finally allowed MMDC, which operates a nickel mine in Cantillan, Surigao del Sur, on October 15 to resume operation after the company substantially complied with the conditions set by the MGB. As a penalty for its unauthorized mining operation outside its approved area, MMDC was ordered by the MGB to plant 3 million trees outside its mining tenement.
To recall, the company was slapped with a suspension order in April for its unauthorized operation outside its approved mining area.
Jasareno said all mining companies who violate mining or environmental laws will from now will be required to the same, depending on the areas affected by erring companies.
“There is a penal provision under the Mining Act. However, in some situations, it [penalty] is not clear, that is why we impose other penalties,” he said.
He said the decision for such policy is to make penalties relevant for the environment.
“We thought of imposing the policy. Somehow, it is a crime against the environment that’s why they should pay back to the environment,” he added.
Philex Mining Corp. (Philex) was slapped with a P1-billion fine by the MGB for violation of the mining law in connection with the accidental leak from its Tailings Storage Facility 3 at the Padcal mine in Benguet on August 1, 2012, after what the company describe as “historic and unprecedented” rainfall.
It was slapped with another P180-million fine by the Pollution Adjudication Board for violation under the Clean Water Act for polluting the Balog creek and Agno River before its suspension order was finally lifted, allowing the company to resume extracting gold and copper ores.
It was not, however, ordered to plant trees over and above what the company has been planting over the past years.
“Planting trees is already part of the commitment of mining companies. “That is why as penalty, we are making them to plant trees outside their MPSAs,” he said.
The DENR has a standing policy as penalty for cutting down trees in connection with development projects, such as for subdivision developers. For every tree cut down, the developer will have to plant 10 trees.