"Paje, however, said the ordinances would remain until rendered...

"Paje, however, said the ordinances would remain until rendered illegal by the national government agency."

As I've maintained since the first draft. And now it seems Paje is publicly establishing expectations prior to the release of the policy.

A constitutional bun fight coming up if anyone (Xstrata, National Govt) dedicates themselves to pursue it. Who knows how it will ultimately be decided (courts?), how long until it will be decided (years?), and which way it will be decided (the Local Govt Act has many conflicts).

An expectation by crystal ball gazers (like myself) that Xstrata may pack up all site activity until the issue is resolved may be fair, especially given that the current blood loss is pointless (negligent) while the project remains in limbo.


Policy release delayed further - they are messing with my June prediction:

"Malacañang, on the other hand, said the pending EO on mining needed more revisions and its issuance would take a little more time."


Also, Aquino still hasn't worked out how to fleece foreign investment:

'"Aquino said one outstanding issue that he hoped would be resolved before Friday was whether the EO would suffice in determining the acceptable revenue-sharing formula between the government and mining firms.

“Do we need legislation to do this? Right now total taxes will not reach 10 percent of the total revenues of mining firms. The basis to impose higher fees and royalties is still being fleshed out,” Aquino said.'


But that issue and the open cut ban issue look to be deferred to a new mining council, who can then navel gaze over them:

"A mining council is also being proposed in the EO, Ochoa said earlier, and that it would harmonize national and local laws.

Ochoa said the mining council would be formed to study how revenue sharing would be fixed, among others."


If nothing else, for the intermediate term, explorers can probably forget about progressing projects in areas with local legal conflicts (or perhaps fight the laws), but hopefully new applications and the 5 year hiatus on approvals will be unwound.



Quotes from above contained here:
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=820357&publicationSubCategoryId=63