Maintaining the province’s 25-year mining moratorium Or. Mindoro judge dismisses a mining company’s petition to force an LGU to receive their rental fees

By JUANCHO R. MAHUSAY

CALAPAN CITY – A regional trial court in Oriental Mindoro has dismissed the petition of a foreign-owned mining company to compel a municipal treasurer to receive the occupation fees the said private firm is bent on paying to justify or legitimize the latter’s continuing mining explorations in the said town and its stay in the province.

In a decision recently issued by Presiding Judge Tomas Leynes, of RTC Branch 40 of this city, regarding the Civil Case No. CV-11-6353, it stated that Municipal Treasurer Juana Abante, of Victoria, Oriental Mindoro, has the entire legal basis in not accepting the occupation fees being paid by the Norwegian-owned Aglubang Mining Corporation (AMC) to comply with the said company’s Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) for a period of five years which amounted to a total ofP816,900.

The AMC’s MPSA, a sort of a government permit which allows a particular mining company to explore a certain mineral deposits in a given area, covered a period of 2008 to 2012 in the mountains of Brgy. Villa Cerveza in Victoria town, said province.  Once the occupation fees being paid by the company be received by the municipal treasurer, this is tantamount for an official approval by the said LGU for the AMC to excavate and mine in their area.

However, the municipal government of Victoria, led by re-elected Mayor Alfredo Ortega, Jr., maintains its anti-mining stance and upholds the provincial government of Oriental Mindoro’s ordinance for a 25-year large-scale mining moratorium.

It can be noted that under the existing Provincial Ordinance No. 001-2002, which declares a 25-year mining moratorium on all forms of mining in the province of Oriental Mindoro, and provides the related exceptions and penalties there, large-scale mining or extraction in all forms is strictly being banned here.  In particular, AMC’s operations in the said municipality are accordingly covered by the same local laws.

Judge Leynes, in his decision which was disseminated to newsmen here over the weekend, cited a particular section in the provincial ordinance which states that “It shall be unlawful for any person or business entity to engage in land clearing, prospecting, exploration, drilling, excavation, mining, transport of mineral ores and such other activities in furtherance of/and/or preparatory to all forms of mining operations (within Oriental Mindoro) for a period of 25-years.”

For his part, Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso V. Umali, Jr. stated the continued effect or implementation of the 25-year Mining Moratorium Ordinance is a clear and concrete manifestation of his provincial administration’s strong position to protect and preserve the environment and its natural resources while promoting the future and lives of all Mindoreños.