Business Mirror | August 11, 2025

THE Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) on Sunday called on the Supreme Court to let local governments ban mining and other environmentally destructive activities.

The PMCJ issued the call as it condemns the SC’s decision to nullify the 25-year moratorium on mining enacted by the provincial government of Occidental Mindoro and the municipality of Abra De Ilog.

PMCJ said the SC decision reverses the gains made by climate-vulnerable communities that are determined to take back their future from the current situation of ecological degradation, displacement, cultural loss, food insecurity, and health issues caused by the irreversible consequences of mining.

The SC ruling lifting the mining ban in Mindoro said that local governments do not have the right to impose policies that threaten to override national laws like Republic Act 7942, or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, which centralizes the authority to control mineral resources and regulate mining operations.

PMCJ further assailed the SC’s decision saying that “it sets a bad precedent that an LGU’s local autonomy and vested mandate to uphold the health, security, well-being, and interests of its constituents can easily be set aside when the bottom line of mining companies is threatened.”

“The decision blatantly contradicts the fundamental rights of people and communities that are inherent in every individual and enshrined in the fundamental laws of the land,” PMCJ said, noting that “LGUs and their constituents enjoy mutual stewardship, knowledge, and a social obligation to protect their ancestral lands and natural resources that no one else–not even the highest court in the land–can match.”

The mining ban was first legally challenged by Agusan Petroleum and Mineral Corporation, a company with a Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA), a legal contract under the Mining Act that permits large-scale mining by foreign or domestic entities in partnership with the national government.

Source: Business Mirror

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