Clarity and consistency.

Are these to much to ask from a government which serially affirms its supposed support for a vital and strategic industry?

This is the refrain of both local and foreign investors in the country’s mining sector tied down by conflicting regulatory strings from the national government and local authorities.

Under such a regime, no company can go full throttle with its projects, depriving workers of  job opportunities, the government of foregone taxes and royalties, and communities a break for growth and development.

In short, a  regulatory straightjacket is simply an impediment for progress.        

But don’t take our word for it.

Read an international environmental expert’s lips:  Mining companies get away with environmentally destructive practices in the Philippines because the country’s laws and policies on mining are not clear or strong enough.

Clive Montgomery Wicks, vice chairman of the commission on environmental, economic and social policy of the Switzerland-based International Union for Conservation of Nature, pointed to the conduct of environmental impact statement as one example of how mining companies can go around the law.

IUCN claims to be the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network, with more than 1,000 governmental  and non-governmental member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries, including the Philippines.

Speaking at a mining forum organized by non-governmental organizations, Wicks said that in the Philippines, an environmental compliance certificate is issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on the basis of an EIS prepared by a company.

But studies have shown that mining companies do not identify the possible ill effects or dangers posed by mining operations in their EIS. “In Philippine mining, most of the mining companies are not identifying the dangers or impact in the required Environmental Impact Statement as well as remedies to cushion the impact of said dangers,” he was quoted by a major broadsheet as saying.

Wicks said this is not the case with respect to international standards, which require mining companies to identify dangers or impacts on the environment posed by their operations and to identify contingency or remedial measures they are to undertake, in what is called an environmental social impact assessment.

He said to correct the weakness in the law, the government should put in place a structure or one body that would specifically look into mining and strictly enforce responsible mining policies to avoid the bad impact of mining on the environment and people.

President Aquino said the government will have a clear-cut mining policy by next month amid foreigners’ complaints that inconsistent rules have stymied investments.

The country is the world’s fifth most mineralized country and its large reserves include gold and copper. But mining accounted for only about one percent of GDP last year, with total production at $1.5 billion.

Aquino said a report he commissioned on what mining policies were needed was due in mid-February. He spoke Thursday before foreign chambers of commerce.