News

Second Responsible Mining Symposium Held at WPU-Aborlan

Heavy rains did not stop the estimated 600 strong members of the faculty and students from the different departments of the Western Philippines University, Aborlan Campus to flock to their Training Center and attend the symposium on Responsible Mining spearheaded by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines last September 12, 2011, 02:00 PM. Dr. Sol De Villa B. Rama, SUC Vice President of WPU, on her opening remarks stated that one of the advantages of RA 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 is the provision for governance of mining thru multistakeholdership. She also said that governing of the natural resource such as mining is not the sole province of the state or the government, nor the mining companies but the responsibility of all stakeholders- including us, the citizens or the Palawenos in particular. She encouraged everyone to keep an open mind about responsible mining emphasizing that a well informed citizenry will end up with a rational decision. Engr. Ramon Santos, Vice President for Mining of Macroasia Corporation (MAC) presented a rebuttal on the allegations of the Save Palawan Movement. The Mining Industry in the Philippines, the case of Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation (RTNMC) was discussed by Engr. Philipp D. Ines, Resident Mine Manager and The Mine Rehabilitation Program was addressed by Dr. Bibiano P. Ranes, Resident Forester of RTNMC. Ms. Janice M. Tupas, SDMP Coordinator of Rio Tuba Nickel Foundation Inc (RTNFI) presented the Social Development and Management Program (SDMP), the case of RTNMC and Coral Bay Nickel Corporation. Ms. Jane T. Urbanek, ComRel Group Manager of Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC) and Representative of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, Engr. Ines and Dr. Ranes of RTNMC, Ms. Tupas of RTNFI, Ms. Jocelyn T. Asignacion, ComRel Superintendent of Berong Nickel Corporation (BNC) and Ipilan Nickel Corporation (INC), Mr. Santos and Dr. Rogel Santos of MAC, and Ms. Lorelie Urcia of Citinickel Mines and Development Corporation composed the distinguished panelists to answer the questions on the much awaited open forum. Mr. Ronald Asignacion of NAC facilitated the intense open forum that followed soon after. Questions about the environment, local employment, social development projects and even collaborative governance in mining were satisfactorily answered by the panelists. The organizers of the said symposium were pleased on the outcome of the open forum since the main objective of this activity, aside from giving of accurate information dissemination about mining and increasing the level of awareness of the students and faculty on the environmental protection and social development programs of the large scale mining companies in Southern Palawan, is also to stimulate critical thinking when it comes to responsible mining. Closing the program, Ms. Urbanek said that we should fight poverty, the real enemy of Palawan. Responsible mining along with tourism and agriculture are the solutions to poverty. With this, she invited the faculty and students to visit the large scale mining companies in Palawan to see for themselves what responsible mining is all about. # Rachelle Ann N. Lauricio

Responsible Mining. Responsible Leadership.

SeptemberOctober 2011 Issue