MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has finally issued an Environmental Compliance Certificate for the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold project of Sagittarius Mine Inc. in Mindanao. The Office of the President (OP) this month remanded to the DENR the petition filed by SMI for the provision of an ECC, directing the department to rule on the application “without any consideration of requirements other than those imposed under EIS (Environmental Impact Study) System itself.” The DENR has repeatedly rejected the company’s application for an ECC because of an existing ban in South Cotabato on the use of the open-pit mining method. An ECC guarantees that a project will not harm the environment. “There is already an ECC issued but the granting is subject to certain conditions,” said Environment Secretary Ramon Paje in an interview yesterday. He said failure to comply with the conditions may result to cancellation of the ECC. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The conditions set by the DENR are as follows: SMI should obtain Free and Prior Informed Consent from occupants of ancestral domain, land access permits from the Department of Agrarian Reform, and endorsement from the local government units. SMI must also have “continuing liability” for any environmental damage that occurs within its tenement. “Whether the incident is caused by force majeure or not, they will be liable,” said Paje. Paje said an environmental permit was issued to SMI upon the recommendation of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), an Read More …
