At last, after all the waiting, the Executive Order (EO) on mining has been released by the Office of the President in the Philippines. As predicted, the Order has been greeted with cries of protest, mostly from environmental and peoples’ organisations. The mining industry, and foreign chambers of trade, have given it general approval.
The most controversial such debate centres on Xstrata’s Tampakan project.
Now, the UK-based Working Group on Mining in the Philippines (WGMP), which includes LMN member groups PIPLinks and the Society of St Columban, has written to the Prime Minister of Great Britain questioning the UK government’s support for the project.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11802.
The WGMP letter is at http://www.columbans.co.uk/news/complaint-about-uk-government-mining-policy-in-the-philippines/.