A lawmaker on Thursday said legalizing the operations of small-scale miners would help promote their safety, provide financial incentives, generate higher revenue for the sector and protect the environment.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte made the statement in support of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s recent order for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to strengthen its regulatory powers on small-scale mining so the government can provide miners with social protection plus skills training and even financial incentives for their operations.
“Environment Secretary Toni (Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga) must act with dispatch on the President’s recent directive for the DENR to strengthen the regulatory framework for small-scale mining with the end view of legalizing the preponderantly unsupervised and perilous activities of these small miners while better protecting the environment,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte also supported the President’s proposal for Congress to amend Republic Act 7065, or the “People’s Small-Scale Mining Act of 1991,” by incentivizing small-scale mining and extending social assistance, labor protection and government assistance programs to these miners.