Mining in the Philippines - Concerns and Conflicts

continue to explore and pursue all avenues available within the law at local, national and
international levels to register their concerns and aspirations and seek redress for wrongs.
1.10 Sign up to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and publish details of all
payments, taxes and royalties made by mining companies. Implement EITI in accordance with the six
EITI criteria, ensuring participation by self-selected representatives of civil society at each stage of the
process.
2. Issues of environmental concern and sustainable development
2.1 Biodiversity and the precautionary principle. Given the global importance of the Philippines as a
centre of biodiversity, the past damage caused and current pressures on the Philippine environment,
the Precautionary Principle should be applied to any mining or other high impact development to
ensure it only proceeds where there will not be significant negative impact on the lives of the preexisting
population or on the environment.
2.2 Access to information. To assist in determining if and where mining might or might not take
place, we suggest that both communities and government agencies are in need of more information
independent of the commercial interests of corporations. The team recommends that more effort and
resources be directed to the goal of providing timely information to communities. This is a
recommendation directed to government, international agencies and the NGO community.
2.3 Strategic Environmental Appraisals (SEAs). The team notes and welcomes the provisions in the
Mining Code which bar mining development from key environmental zones and ancestral lands of
indigenous peoples, but are concerned by reports of a growing list of exceptions. We suggest regional
SEAs might be carried out by the DENR with the effective participation of civil society. Such
assessments of the context and potential impact of mining development could set the framework for
all subsequent studies, ESIAs and environmental management systems. We urge international
donors, including the World Bank and EU, to endorse and support this approach. (See Section 3.4.2
above)
2.4 Prepare joint Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs). ESIAs should be
developed for each mining project and proposed exploration activity. Potential social impacts can be
among the most serious. We therefore recommend community participation is maximized and the
results be made widely available - including through the Internet - and open to independent
verification. 118 The current potential for automatic approval of EIAs seems inappropriate to us given
the potential impacts and controversy surrounding many projects. These independently verified
ESIAs should be presented to indigenous peoples as part of the FPIC process. We urge international
donors including the World Bank and EU, to endorse and support this approach.
2.5 Health impact. Health impact assessments should be performed and information provided to
communities in advance of mining operations. Monitoring on the basis of these base line studies
should be conducted in the vicinity of all mining sites, and companies held accountable for any
negative effects observed. Companies should be required to provide a bond against potential health
impacts. (See recommendation 5.3 below)
3. International governance
3.1 Binding frameworks. The evidence available to the FFT argues strongly for the need for binding
international frameworks of accountability to regulate mining, and national level access to courts and
other effective mechanisms within the home countries of transnational mining companies and
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