RP supreme Court asked to revoke law on mining

RP supreme Court asked to revoke law on mining

MANILA (AFP): A Philippine tribe asked the Supreme Court
yesterday to revoke a law allowing 100 percent ownership of
Philippine mining operations by foreign firms, court officials
said.

The Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, a non-
government organization representing the B'laan tribe in the
South, also asked the high court to cancel the exploration
contract of Australian firm Western Mining Corp.

Western Mining is one of two Australian companies granted
Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAAs) under the
1995 law, allowing the company to explore and develop up to
81,000 hectares (200,700 acres) of mineral-rich land.

The case involved a prospect in the southern province of
Sultan Kudarat, in an area the B'laans claim as their ancestral
land.

Lawyer Carolina Ruiz told AFP that the mining law should be
declared as unconstitutional because it grants 100 percent
foreign-owned companies the right to explore and develop large
mining concessions under the FTAA.

This was in violation of the Philippine constitution, which
provides that only Filipino firms with a maximum 40 percent
foreign ownership can engage in the exploration, development and
use of natural resources, Ruiz said.

Under the constitution, exploration, development and
utilization shall be under the "full control and supervision of
the state," she added, while under the FTAA, full control of the
mining operation was left to the contractor.

"We think this is a strong case," Ruiz said. "The provision in
the constitution is clear-cut and we don't know how else the
Supreme Court would interpret it."

She said the group was encouraged by a Supreme Court ruling
earlier this week that rendered void the winning bid of the
Malaysian conglomerate Renong Bhd. for a controlling stake in the
historic Manila Hotel.

The high tribunal ruled that the hotel should remain in
Filipino hands because it was part of the national patrimony and
awarded the sale to the losing bidder, the local firm Manila
Prince Hotel Corp.

Ruiz said that if the Manila Hotel, which had served as the
pre-World War II headquarters of U.S General Douglas MacArthur
and is a favorite of visiting heads of state, was a national
treasure, "more so with our natural resources."

Marvic Leonen, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, said: "If
these foreign mining companies will lord it over our national
patrimony, I do not know what our constitution is really for."

President Fidel Ramos said Thursday his government would
pursue mining as a "dependable option" for economic development
without risking the environment.

Noting an increase in mining applications from foreign firms,
Ramos said "high returns of investments" would be guaranteed by
the government's move towards sustainable mining.

Ramos said there had been 120 applications for FTAAs, mostly
from foreign firms. Sixty applications for smaller concessions of
up to 8,100 hectares (20,007 acres) had been received from local
firms, he added.

The Australian miner Arimco is exploring a prospect in the
northern Philippines under an FTAA.