City of San Fernando, Pampanga - A Provincial Mining Regulatory Boards Regional Summit organized by Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) was held on November 22-23, 2011 at the Mimosa Golf and Country Club, Clarkfield, Pampanga. A total of 25 participants who are members and support/technical staff of the existing PMRBs of the provinces of Aurora, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales, and Environment and Natural Resources Officers (ENROs) of the provinces of Bataan and Nueva Ecija. attended the said event.

MGB Assistant Director Elmer Billedo gave the keynote speech in the said event. In his speech, AD Billedo noted the existence of two laws governing the small-scale mining industry in the country, the P.D 1899 and R.A 7076, wherein after about 19 years of simultaneous implementation, it has been shown that PD 1899 has become the culprit of all the problems that small scale mining has brought about.

AD Billedo informed the group that based from the opinion issued by the Department of Justice under Opinion No.29-2011, R.A 7076 has completely repealed P.D 1899 and that the latter no longer has the force and effect of law. It is hoped that the said DOJ opinion is finally put in effect, there would be immense improvement in small scale mining operations throughout the country.

The topics presented/discussed during the conference which were done by MGB3 technical personnel included the following:

1. Proposed manual of operations for the devolved functions of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau/DENR on small scale mining to the Local Government Units;
2. Procedures in the declaration of areas as People’s Small Scale Mining Area
3. Process flow and requirements in securing small scale mining contract
4. Environmental requirements for small-scale mining and quarrying as prescribed Under Republic Acts 7942 and 7076
5. Fiscal provisions for mineral products as Provided Under Republic Act 7076 and 7942
6. Joint DBM, DOF, DILG, and DENR Memorandum Circular

Each of the 7 provinces thru their respective ENROs presented the situations, issues and concerns of the small scale mining operations in their area of jurisdiction, the highlights of which are as follows:

The second day of summit was devoted to a workshop wherein the participants were divided into two groups. Group 1 comprising of the participants from the provinces of Aurora, Bataan, and Pampanga were tasked to give their comments and/or suggestions on the proposed manual of operations for the MGB/DENR devolved
functions to the LGUs. On the other hand, Group 2 consisting of the participants from the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and Zambales was tasked to provide policy recommendations on the different issues/concerns presented by the provinces.