black and white

This from someone with some say and unbiased

quote

"to defend national law and the Constitution,”

MANILA, Philippines — The National Government is being urged to act fast on the increasing number of ordinances being issued by local government units (LGUs) that violate national laws and the Constitution, particularly the open-pit mining ban that is affecting the viability of the Tampakan copper-gold mine.

Pacifico A. Agabin, chairman of the Constitutional Law Department of the Philippine Judicial Academy of the Supreme Court and the concurrent general counsel of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, noted that there have been a range of provincial ordinances which have been been put in place by LGUs in clear contravention of existing national laws and the Constitution.

“The National Government, I think, should see the urgency of resolving this concern and without further delay to defend national law and the Constitution,” Agabin said.

Agabin cited the Ordinance issued by Sangguniang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato in June 9, 2010 which prohibits open-pit mining in the province which directly hit the $6 billion-Tampakan Copper-Gold Mine Project of the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), the single biggest foreign investment in the country.

“It should be noted that local governments cannot regulate large-scale mining, Congress already passed a national law authorizing open-pit mining and LGUs cannot pass an Ordinance that contravenes the national law,” said Agabin.

Agabin added that, “as the subject of open-pit mining has been pre-empted by Congress, this precludes local government from passing any ordinance on the same subject that conflicts with national law or policy, unless this is authorized by Congress itself.”

He pointed out that, under the Constitution, “LGUs are mere agents of the State with powers that are delegated by the National Government.”

Agabin is also urging the National Government to exercise its “political will” through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to firmly and expeditiously resolve this concern.

“It is clear from the provisions of the law creating the DENR that it was tasked with the function of balancing environmental concerns against that of the development of natural resources,” he said.

SMI is a contractor of the Philippine Government under the terms of a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA)

In January this year, the DENR denied the application of SMI for an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) pending the resolution of the open-pit mining ban imposed by the local government of South Cotabato.