THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 
1 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
Second Regular Session 
) 
S E N A T E  
Senate Bill No. 
2zbs- 
6 FED -7 
P6:4i 
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Introduced by Senator M. A. Madrigal 
AN ACT 
REPEALING REPUBLIC ACT 7942, "AN ACT INSTITUTING A NEW 
SYSTEM OF MINERAL RESOURCES EXPLORATION, DEVELOPMENT, 
UTILIZATION AND CONSERVATION," 
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS, "THE PHILIPPINE MINING ACT OF 1995" 
No less than Principle 1 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and 
Development asserts that: 
"Human beings are ut the center for sustainable 
development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive lye in harmony with nature." 
The Philippine Mining Act of 1995 miserably fails to fulfill Principle 1 of 
the Rio Declaration. Not only is Republic Act 7942 otherwise known as the 
Mining Act anti-Filipino; it also acquiesces to the development aggression 
perpetrated by foreign mining companies that ravages communities and 
capitalizes on the economic vulnerability of impoverished populations. RA 7942 
promotes the wide spread plunder of our environment and natural resources 
and allows multinational and transnational mining firms with impunity to 
exploit our remaining national patrimony. 
Tragically, when disaster strikes, the Mining Act is powerless in 
compelling multinational and transnationdl corporations to renumerate the 
people whose lives have been permanently damaged by environmental 
destruction. This destruction of life has also caused loss of livelihood and 
illnesses that transcends generations. 
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The current administration argues that, the mining industry could propel 
the country as the "5fh mining power in the world." Sadly, such argument is 
illusory and one sided. Moreover, it does not take into account the debilitating 
effects of mining activities to the environment; the indigenous cultural 
communities; the health and safety of the people as well as their means of 
livelihood. At most, the non-economic aspects of mining are largely ignored. 
On November 2005, the Senate Economic Planning Office (SEPO) came 
out with a policy insight Extracting Gvowth from Mining. It cross-examined the 
economic effects of mining vis-&vis its adverse effects on the community and the 
environment. It sought to answer the question, "Can the country really gain from 
these resources?" To quote: 
"Past Experience 
Mining as an industry is highly prospective. The chances of 
success are generally slim with industry ekperts pegging the odds 
of finding mineral deposits during exploration at 1:500. Estimates 
made by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) during the 
1990s also reveal that most of the remaining mineral deposits in 
the county are actually low-grade ore. The poor quality of ore 
results in higher operating costs per ounce of metal produced since 
less metal is recovered for evey ton of ore mined and process in the 
county. 
Philippine experience also shows that mining investments are 
vulnerable to the prevailing socio-economic environment in the 
county. Mines across the county were closed down, suspended, 
or scaled down during the latter part of the 1980s as the Philippine 
economy struggled to cope with political uncertainty. By the mid- 
199Os, the number of active mines being operated in the county 
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had fallenf7om 58 in 1981, to just 27 in 1997. As a result, the 
average annual employment in mining and quarrying fell by 7.5 
percent during the 1990s. Average mineral production during the 
same period likewise fell by 18.9 percent to US$967 million, while 
mineral exports also dropped by 3.8 percent to US $709 million. 
The ambiguity of government policies has also caused the decline 
in mining activities as it did in the 1990s. The passage of the 
Mining Act in 1995 was supposed to clarify and streamline 
existing government policies towards revitalizing the domestic 
mining industry. However, public sentiment weighed heavily 
against mining following the 1996 Marcopper tragedy in 
Marinduque. A year later, various environmental and civil society 
groups led by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center - 
Kasama sa Kalikasan (LRC-KsK) managed 
to stay the 
implementation of the Mining Act by challenging its 
constitutionality before the Supreme Court. 
Environmental Woes 
The.impact of mining on the environment may be dzficult to 
measure but the adverse economic and social effects are real. To 
date, most of all financial or technical assistance agreement 
(FTAA) and mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) 
applications in the county will employ open-pit mining or 
combination of open-pit and other forms of extraction. The practice 
of open-pit mining has already been banned in several 
industrialized countries including the United States and Canada, 
because of its negative impact on the environment. Open pits are 
usually over 2.5 km. long, 0.5 km deep, and 1.2 km. wide. It has 
been estimated that three tons of mineral waste are produced for 
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every gold wedding made. Waste materials and smelters are also 
known to cause sulfurous dust clouds that result in acid rain. 
Abandoned strip mines are often used as unregulated landfills for 
hazardous wastes. Tailings runoffs can contaminate nearby water 
sources with heavy met& pollutants used in mining, such as 
cadmium, mercury, sodium cyanide, and zinc, rendering them 
useless as sources of food, water, and livelihood. It has been 
estimated that 160,OO tones of mine tailings find their way into 
rivers, lakes, and irrigation systems across the country everyday. 
Mining disasters have not helped the cawse of the industry and 
have only created negative public sentiment. There have been 
several documented cases of river poisonings across the country 
but all of them pale in comparison to the infamous Marcopper 
tragedy in 1996, considered to be one of the biggest environmental 
disasters to ever hit the Philippines. Up until today, the effects of 
the breach of the tailings dam which spilled some three million 
toxic tailings, are still felt. It has resulted in the biological death of 
the Boac and Makulapnit rivers, and inundated an additional 823 
hectares of once productive farmland. It has likewise adversely 
afected the physical wellbeing and livelihood opportunities of more 
than 20,000 families living in 42 communities adjacent to the Boac 
River. 
The fact that there has been no clear resolution to the tragedy 
further erodes the confidence of the public on the capacity of the 
government to regulate the industry. To this day, Marcopper and 
its former majority shareholder, Canadian mining firm, Placer 
Dome Inc., continue to deny responsibility for most of the damages 
caused by mining activities in Marinduque. Placer Dome Inc., the 
second largest mining firm in Canada, hm since then divested its 
share in Marcopper and continues to operate mines around the 
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globe. Marinduquefios, on the other hand, continues to daily 
contend with the adverse effects of the tailings dam breach." 
In the same report, contrary to the government's aggressive stance that the 
mining industry is a vital source of economic contribution, it was reported that, 
the industry only contributed on the average, 1.44 percent of the country's gross 
domestic product in the past 35 years. It also reported that, in terms of exports, 
the share of mining exports to total exports only average 11.27 percent, with a 
high of 24.56 percent in 1973. 
The said report further said "In Masbate, Camarines Norte and Agusan, 
where the country's bigger gold and copper mines are situated, poverty levels are one of 
the highest in the country. In Region IV, where the contribution of mining to regional 
output is the highest at 17%, poverty levels have remained at 39.7%, well above the 
national average of 24.7%. I' 
On a global scale, the report has this to say: "...historical data j?om the 
last two centuries for each of Canada, United States and Australia shows that 
mining's share of annual GDP has not been significant, contributing only 1 to 5 
percent. The study points out that the sustained arowth of these three countries 
was not driven by mining and other extractive industries per se but by the 
successfir1 development of upstream and downstream industries, which relied 
heavily on the processing of mineral products, sming as inputs to domestic 
manufacturing and production." 
In conclusion, the SEPO report said that, "The countw can no longer 
Rfford to ineflcientlw manage what little natural resources it has left, especially 
in the lixht of the mininn industry's adverse imvact on both societu and the 
natural environment. The conclusion of Ross in his 2001 study on mining can 
well s m e  as a basic policy guideline for mining. As pointed out in his study, 
"when mineral development occurs in a context of underdeveloped social, 
political, and economic institutions, the non-renewable resource wealth tends to 
be squandered, the level of social conflict increases, and nearly irreparable 
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damages is inflicted on the environment. This can leave a developin2 
nation PERh4ANENTLY voorer." 
Last October 2005, another toxic waste spillage was reported in the island 
of Rapu-Rapu in Albay. Spillages of cyanide and mercury, attributed to the 
mining activities of the Australian mining firm, Lafayette Mining, Inc., caused 
fish kills, endangering ,the food supply in the island, as well as the neighboring 
areas in Albay and Sorsogon. 
This recent mining disaster triggered another round of protests from 
different sectors including the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines 
(CEKT), which issued a statement calling for the repeal of the mining law. 
A decade since the passage of the Mining Act, it has so far only served as 
an instrument for the government to sell OUT national patrimony to transnational 
mining corporations (TNCs) and their local counterparts giving them virtual 
license to plunder our nations resources. Rivers are dying, indigenous 
communities are being robbed of their ancestral domains and people are dying of 
heavy metal contamination, the environment is being poisoned and laid to waste 
because of mining. Mining is not an economic tool; rather, it is a tool for mass 
destruction against life. 
As stated in Breaking Promises, Making Profits- Mining in the 
Philippines, a Christian Aid and PIFLinks report (December 2004): "Because the 
benefits to the national economy remain so unclear, with negative effects 
appearing to be at least as likely as positive ones, it is vital to focus on the local 
impact of mining. Here the picture is clear - people who live near mines in the 
Philippines are overwhelmingly being made worse off, because of environmental 
degradation, economic stagnation and human rights concerns. Only a small 
minority are benefiting from the few jobs available, and the occasional 
company -sponsored community program." 


The continuing existence of the Mining Law of 1995 is a human rights 
violation where the State itself perpetuates the step-by-step destruction of not 
only its environment but also of its people. Due to mining, many communities 
are destroyed and peoples lives lost in whole or in part just to satisfy the greed of 
a few and to enrich even fewer. The failure to repeal this law is not only a 
betrayal of the Filipino people but it is also outright plunder of the remaining 
patrimony of the country. In short, economic plunder. No self-respecting nation 
should allow this to happen. 
It is now time to heed the call in saving "life." The Mining Act is anti-life 
and should now be repealed. The passage of this bill is earnestly requested. 


THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 
1 
6 FE8 -7 P6 3 0  
OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
] 
Second Regular Session 
1 
I 
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I
BY: 
S E N A T E  
,
.
 
S.B. N o . 2 0  5 
Introduced by Senator M.A. Madrigal 
AN ACT 
REPEALING REPUBLIC ACT 7942, “AN ACT INSTITUTING A NEW 
SYSTEM OF MINERAL RESOURCES EXPLORATION, DEVELOPMENT, 
UTILIZATION AND CONSERVATION,” 
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS, ”THE PHILIPPINE MINING ACT OF 1995” 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
Section 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known as “An Act Repealing Republic 
Act 7942, “An Act Instituting A New System of Mineral Resources Exploration, 
Development, Utilization and Conservation,” otherwise known as, ”The 
Philippine Mining Act of 1995.” 
Section 2. Declaration of State Policies. It is the State‘s policy to protect and 
advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord 
with the rhythm and harmony of nature. The State also recognizes and promotes 
the right of indigenous cultural communities within the framework of national 
unity and development. 
Section 3. Repealing Clause. 
Any provision of law to the contrary 
notwithstanding, Republic Act 7942, otherwise known as “The Philippine 
Mining Act of 1995,” is hereby repealed. 
Section 4. Separability Clause. 
If any part of this Act is declared 
unconstitutional or invalid, the other provisions not affected thereby shall 
continue to be in full force and effect. 
Section 5. Effectivity. 
This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
complete publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of 
general circulation. 
Approved, 
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