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.