Twelve years ago, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan passed Provincial Ordinance No. 006, s. 2013, which declared Catanduanes as a mining-free province and prohibited the extraction of valuable minerals except quarrying of sand and gravel for government infra projects.
The enactment of the measure was likewise complemented in 2018 by Republic Act 11038, or the Integrated Protected Areas System of 2018, which declared, among others, the 48,000-hectare Catanduanes Natural Park as a protected area.
Sec. 14 of said Act allows only the exploration for energy resources for the purpose of data gathering while Sec. 18 declares as unlawful any mineral exploration or extraction as well as large-scale quarrying within the protected area.
For over a decade now, environmentalists have closely monitored any activity involving mineral extraction on the island, raising a howl in 2023 that forced the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to repeal a measure that temporarily suspended the mining-free ordinance and allowed small scale coal mining.
Now, a recent decision of the Supreme Court has opened the door to mining activities in Catanduanes.
In the ruling released last week, the High Court nullified a 25-year moratorium on large-scale mining imposed by the province of Occidental Mindoro and the municipality of Abra de Ilog through their respective ordinances.
In affirming a decision of the Regional Trial Court that voided the ordinances, the SC said the ordinances violated Republic Act No. (RA) 7942, or The Philippine Mining Act of 1995.
In its petition, the province argued that the ordinances were a valid exercise of its police power since their purpose was to protect the environment and the lives and safety of its residents and likewise claimed that RA 7942 recognizes certain areas closed to mining activities, such as those “areas expressly prohibited by law,” including ordinances passed by local government units.
The High Court brushed aside Mindoro LGU’s reasoning by stating that local ordinances are not included in the term “laws” that can prohibit mining under Section 19 of RA 7942.
“The power of LGUs to issue ordinances comes from Congress, and interpreting “laws” to include local ordinances would, in effect, allow LGUs to override Congress’s authority to regulate mining – something they are not permitted to do,” it stressed.
While RA 7492 gives the LGUs the power to approve or deny individual mining applications based on their effects on the environment, livelihoods, and land rights of their residents, the Court pointed out, the law does not authorize them to impose a blanket ban on all large-scale mining in their area.
This leaves open for possible mining activity those areas that are not within the boundaries of the protected area that is the Catanduanes Natural Park.
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THE SHOOTERS. A shooting club was holding a competition. The winner was to get a somewhat ugly trophy, the second-placed shooter – a crate of champagne.
By the end of the final round, two shooters were tied for first place, so they were told to do a tiebreaker round – 5 shots at maximum distance. To keep things more dramatic, they had to shoot at the same time.
After both had stopped firing and were awaiting the results, one shooter turned to his rival and said with a little smile: “I’m sorry, pal. I put all five shots in the wall.”
“I’m sorry, too,” replied the other, “because I put all of mine into your target.”