MICC multi-stakeholders review to continue: DOF exec

May 4, 2017

The Department of Finance (DOF) respects the decision of the bicameral Commission on Appointments (CA) to reject the appointment of Gina Lopez as secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). But Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin said this will not affect the coming multi-stakeholders review by the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) of all mining operations in the country. Agabin said the meeting of the MICC, set Thursday, was reset but he added that the council will continue with its task. “The Commission on Appointments is acting within its constitutional mandate, and so we respect the judgment,” said Agabin, who heads the DOF Legal Affairs and the Revenue Integrity Protection Service (RIPS) and represents Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III in the MICC, according to a statement on Thursday. As regards the multi-stakeholders review the MICC decided last February to conduct in Resolution No. 6 that was signed by both Dominguez and Lopez, Agabin said: “Definitely it will continue because it’s the mandate of the MICC to do just that regardless of who’s in the DENR.” “The MICC will continue with its mandate to review the existing mining operations,” Agabin said. “In fact a meeting of the subcommittee to vet the members of the technical review team will push through.” Dominguez and Lopez co-chair the MICC created in 2012 by President Benigno Aquino III as the interagency body mandated to institute reforms in the Philippine mining sector and craft policies and guidelines to ensure environmental protection and responsible mining in the utilization of mineral resources. DMS