President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said Saturday his administration will do a meticulous balancing to protect the environment and enforce the country’s law on responsible mining.
During a media interview after attending the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) alumni homecoming in Baguio City, the President was asked about his policy direction towards protecting the environment in the Cordillera, especially regarding mining.
“In terms of protecting the environment, it’s very clear what the position of this government has always been… It has been an important part of all our policies, that we are environmentally conscious, that we are moving the economy towards green technologies, we are moving our production of power towards renewables,” President Marcos said.
“So in that regard, all our forest cover is important and must remain — that is giving the Philippines, we fall into the category of a carbon sink country because of our forest cover and so that is a very valuable asset for the Philippines,” the chief executive pointed out.
The President said the country can now monetize its forest cover— giving it a peso value or a dollar value, and also take advantage of being more active in promoting and monitoring, regulating and encouraging the care of its forests.
With regard to mining, President Marcos noted that mineral exploration and extraction are very important parts of his administration’s plan for the economy, adding, however, that the government does not want to see unfortunate incidents that happened in the past few years.
“So it is really a question of enforcing the law in terms of responsible mining and that is what we will continue to do. We will always make sure that the mining companies who come in, once they are finished mining that they leave the site in the same condition as it was when they found it,” the President said. ( PND)