Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Acting Director Wilfredo G. Moncano just recently anchored his policy directions for 2020 on the following pillars: strong monitoring and enforcement, people-oriented by providing jobs and benefits to communities, completion of environmental rehabilitation of abandoned mines and mined-out areas, increase in contribution to national income, transformation into a world-class and competitive mining industry and wider implementation of risk resiliency program to support the climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction programs of the government.
The aforementioned policy directions are embedded into the MGB’s major programs which correspond to the organizational outcomes of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) - MGB, which are Natural Resources Sustainably Managed and Adaptive Capacities of Human Communities and Natural Systems Improved. Under the first organizational outcome, the 2020 targets for the Mineral Resources Enforcement and Regulatory Program include increasing government revenues share from mineral resources development and strengthening the monitoring of mining permits/contracts on their compliance with prevailing mining laws, rules and regulations. In line with this direction of strict monitoring and enforcement, continuous cleansing of non-moving mining rights and use of modern technology in monitoring mining companies will be pushed. The continuous environmental rehabilitation of abandoned/mined out areas until it is completed and be transformed to a land use that is beneficial to the communities and environment also remain as one high priority.
As for the Mineral Resources and Development Program, mineral reservations areas with strategic minerals set aside and proclaimed by the government for future mining exploration, development and utilization will be further promoted and research for rare earth minerals will be conducted. Moreover, the remaining areas of the country will be assessed of its mineral potential under the same program.
Under the Geological Risk Reduction and Resiliency Program, MGB will further assess the vulnerability and risk exposure to geohazards of road networks, communities and infrastructure of cities and municipalities nationwide. This will be coupled with intensive information, education and communication campaigns aimed at informing the local government executives and the public of the present geohazards in their localities and the ways on how to mitigate them in support of the government’s program on climate change mitigation and disaster risk management.
By: Planning, Policy and International Affairs Division