Advocacy group welcomes Duterte’s stand against open pit mining

THE Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc. (PMPI) said it welcomes President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement that he has no intention of heeding the Mining Industry Coordinating Council’s (MICC) recommendation to lift the ban on open pit mining.

In a statement, PMPI’s National Coordinating Council said that while the Chamber of Mines continues to harp on open pit mining as an internationally accepted method of mineral ore extraction, it continues to disregard the fact that the Philippines is archipelagic compared to the contiguous continents where such method is being practiced.