Duterte orders DENR chief to look into eventual closure of open-pit mining

September 5, 2017

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday  he ordered Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to study the possibility of closing open-pit mining.

In an interview with reporters in Taguig City, Duterte said open-pit mining is a "very dangerous environmental activity."

He said that former Environment Secretary Regina Lopez, who was rejected by the Commission on Appointments, was correct about the danger of open-pit mining.

"Yesterday I sked General Cimatu, who is the secretary of DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources), to look into the eventual closure of open-pit mining," he said.

"I agree with Gina Lopez. That has to stop some time," he said.

But Duterte assured mining companies that the government would give them "enough elbow room" to make adjustments on "eventual change or the modality of getting what’s inside the bowels of the earth." Celerina Monte/DMS