Atienza bans mining in southern Palawan

02/01/2009

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Lito Atienza yesterday ordered a moratorium on the processing of new mining applications in southern Palawan.

Atienza’s order was in response to the request of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development to impose a moratorium on the acceptance and processing of new mining applications, including small-scale mining, pending the declaration of the 120,000-hectare Mt. Mantalingahan in southern Palawan as a protected area.

The provincial government has approved a legislation declaring a 25-year mining moratorium on the issuance of endorsements for new applications for small-scale mining activities in the province.

“Mt. Mantalingahan is a key biodiversity area, and we have to evaluate first the best and optimal use of the area that would be most advantageous to the national interest,” Atienza said in a press conference held at the Puerto Princesa City coliseum this afternoon.

He said that if the mountain is declared a protected area, the rights of ancestral claim of the indigenous peoples in the area will be protected.

Mt. Mantalingahan straddles the municipalities of Quezon, Brooke’s Point, Sofronio Espanola, Rizal and Bataraza, populated mostly by Tagbanuas, who are one of the indigenous people groups in Palawan.

It is considered as one of the most important resources in the southern part of the province, being a habitat of various threatened and endemic flora and fauna and its large remaining forests cover several watersheds.

“Palawan is the country’s last frontier in forestry as well as in biodiversity, thus, we need to ensure its sustainable development,” Atienza stressed.

The Environment chief expressed concern over the reports of growing number of mining applications in the area which, if aggregated, will cover the whole of Mt. Mantalingahan.

The moratorium will affect 65 large mining rights applications within the proposed protected area now pending at the DENR.

Covering a total of 116,999 hectares, the applied areas represent around 97 percent of the total area of Mt. Mantalingahan.

DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau records show that there are four mineral production agreements undertaking explorations covering a total area of 6,535 hectares.

Atienza signed the moratorium order during the launching of the “Regional People Hour” (RPH) in Puerto Princesa City, where some 50 local residents took advantage of his presence.

The conduct of the RPH, personally presided over by the DENR chief, is one of the department’s strategies to bring the government, particularly its environmental programs and services, straight to the people, as envisioned by President Gloria Arroyo.

Earlier, Atienza stopped the processing and issuance of environmental compliance certificates of small-scale projects in Palawan. PNA

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