The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Friday assured foreign investors, especially in the mining sector, that the government will provide an enabling environment for them. “We are very strong in our position that we will protect investments in the country,” DENR Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje told reporters. Foreign businessmen on Wednesday said they want the government to come up with consistent mining policies.

The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines said the Supreme Court’s issuance of the Writ of Kalikasan, the ban on open pit mining in South Cotabato, and proposals to repeal the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 “are causing serious concerns within the foreign investment community about the country’s ability to move forward with a healthy, reliable and transparent mining industry policy.”

Paje said there is a “breakthrough” in the Tampakan project, adding that the South Cotabato legislation banning open pit mining there was not published, hence was not in effect. Read more...

By Ben Arnold O. de Vera (www.manilatimes.net)