I HAD the privilege of participating in the first of two days of a DENR -MGB virtual stakeholder forum entitled “Know Mine, Know Life: Elevating the Mission of Responsible Mining.” This is a laudable effort by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to explain to stakeholders such as NGOs and POs, media, industry, academe and even the religious the why and wherefore of mining in the Philippines, especially the regulations that the Bureau is tasked to implement. These are laws, rules and regulations designed to maximize the benefit of mining the natural resources of the country for the benefit of the Filipino people in general and mining communities in particular.

For yesterday’s session I was given the assignment by NAC President and CEO Dennis Zamora to share the practices of two of our subsidiaries based in Surigao del Norte: Claver-based Taganito Mining Corporation (TMC) and Hinatuan Mining Corporation (HMC) of Tagana-an. These two were among the recipients of the 2021 Presidential Mineral Industry Environment Awards (PMIEA), an award instituted during the time of President Fidel Ramos that recognizes the best practices in the industry in the Philippines.

It was TMC’s fourth presidential award, but the first for HMC. However, HMC was proud of the fact that in 2021 it also came home with the awards for Best Surface Mining Operation, Best Mine Forest, Overall Safest Mining Operation, Best Miner and Best Safety Inspector – a rare sweep of all available awards.

I was not the only presenter yesterday, as the best practices of other PMIEA winners were shared – Agatha Mining, Berong, and Platinum Group Metals. Taken together the presentations provided a good glimpse into the world of responsible mining, one that anti-mining advocates continue to denigrate if not deny.

Let’s face it: there are still those who will insist to their dying day that responsible mining is a myth. But is it?

What is responsible mining anyway? I had been asked this many times and my answer is simple: a responsible miner is no different from a responsible parent or student or employee or even citizen – one who obeys the law, complies with rules and regulations and fulfills obligations as part of the effort to contribute to society. To monitor the industry is the task of the MGB, in coordination with other DENR agencies such as the EMB, Fisheries and Aquatics, Forestry, etc.

So yes, responsible mining organizations exist; the DENR makes sure of that.

Notably, however, whenever an incident or even a disaster occurs in or around a mining operation, critics are quick to use the same as an argument to “prove” that there is no such animal as responsible mining and that mining in general must stop. But being responsible does not mean being totally immune from incidents.

You see, in any human endeavor incidents are inevitable. You can be as careful a driver as the world has ever seen – but something or someone else may be the cause of an incident that involves you. Being in an incident per se is not proof of irresponsibility, though it may be proof of poor judgment. But the better test for responsibility is what you do after an incident happens. An irresponsible motorist, for example, will choose to flee and leave the scene of the incident. A responsible one will stop and see what can be done.

It’s no different with mining. A company like PHILEX, for example, figured in an unfortunate dam failure a few years back that caused tons and tons of silt to be deposited in a river. What did PHILEX do? Rather than using lawyers to try every trick in the book to escape legal liability, the company paid up – up to P1 billion, if I am not mistaken, in fines and penalties, not counting the costs it incurred for the clean-up.

Irresponsible? I should say not.

Finally, these persistent questions about the reality of responsible mining are, in my book, nothing but an insult to the men and women of the DENR MGB whose sworn function is to foster responsible mining practices in the country. Now tell me, if responsible mining is anything, then what have these men and women been doing all these years? Playing DOTA? Mobile Legend? Bomb Crypto? Or Pokémon?

It’s time to drop this nonsense about responsible mining being a myth. Take it from the late DENR Sec. Gina Lopez herself who, upon visiting Rio Tuba Nickel Mining in Bataraza, Palawan in 2017 could only exclaim “Pwede pala!”

Thank you, Ma’am. I rest my case.