There are always rumors about the JV partner, mostly negative press
But he is resilient, to say the least
During the campaign, the President has vilified him and when the President won,
the general sentiment was that it was only a matter of time before his operations were shut down
Fast forward to 9 months later and the circus of the mining audits, and he is still operating
Gina Lopez actually heaped praises at his operations in the DENR hearings, and on national TV
Not many operations who can carry that distinction
The whole country is full of stories and rumors
There are already a number of cases filed on the dispute
As with all disputes, there are always at least 2 sides to this story
Doesnt matter what the stories are, what matters is what the courts say
For that, I am afraid that it will be a long haul
In the Philippine courts, both parties can stretch this out for some time
For reference, a business dispute between Lepanto Mining and NM Rothschild and sons started in 2005
and it took 6 years till 2011 just to decide which jurisdiction and which parties have an interest in the case.
I dont think that a final decision has been made yet on the actual dispute of the case, the offtake agreement between both parties.
I believe that will take some more time
In this case, one of the 2 parties will win, but when it is going to be, I cant even venture a guess
Winning in arbitration my be at hand, enforcement can also be another
It sucks, but it is what it is
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