Legitimate mining companies can heave a sigh of great relief.

And the blockbuster industry can finally surge ahead in full throttle with all the attendant economic benefits for all stakeholders of this sector – investors, workers, the government, and host communities.

All it takes really is unadulterated political will to put the needed reforms firmly in place to make the extractive industry a win-win proposition for all.

And we hope the government puts its policy where its mouth is.

And so we hold on to the word of the state regulator as well as the commitment of the industry leaders to comply with best business practices, government standards, and international environmental protocols to cash in on the booming sector while maintaining ecological balance in host communities.

Here’s how they intend to proceed this year:      

Government: The local governments units’ open pit mining ban ordinances and other issues plaguing the mining industry will be addressed this year.

Mines and Geosciences Bureau Director Leo L. Jasareno said  reforms would be based on recommendations of the group created to study the nagging issues in the mining industry.

The mining policy group will formulate the mining industry policy of the administration “before the end of the year,” Jasareno said.

Industry: The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines is optimistic that the so-called minerals policy group drafting the country’s mining policy would recommend the continued promotion of “responsible” mining as allowed under the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.

“We are hopeful that the government will consider our recommendations aimed at ensuring the stability of the business environment to enable the industry to further assist in the President’s programs of attracting investments that will generate direct and indirect employment and thereby reduce poverty particularly in the countryside where most of our poor countrymen live,” COMP spokesman Rocky Dimaculangan was quoted by a major broadsheet as saying..

COMP recommendations include: Plugging the tax leakages in the mining industry; allowing the industry to pay directly to the local government units their shares in mining taxes; decisive action on ordinances banning open pit mining; amending Republic Act 7076 to expressly repeal Presidential Decree 1899 (which covers government small-scale mining); cleansing of Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles and Certificate of Ancestral Land Titles, setting a deadline for delineation of ancestral domains/lands and recognition of indigenous peoples; and adopting the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.

Specifically, the group is tasked to address issues such as lack of baseline industry data, policy inconsistencies between national and local laws, governance and law enforcement, lack of total economic valuation for the mining industry, increasing government share in mining revenues, and the adverse effects of environmental degradation and climate change.

The group will also provide “a clear and detailed assessment” of the state of the mining industry, its impacts, effects and potential for the future; and consult with concerned stakeholders such as the mining industry, nongovernment and civil society organizations, and environmental groups, among others.

The study group is composed of Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje, Presidential Adviser on Environmental Protection Nereus Acosta, Presidential Assistant on Climate Change Elisea Gozun, and Climate Change Commission vice chairperson Lucille Sering.