DENR purges half of over 2,000 ‘inactive’ mining applications

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) managed to meet its self-imposed deadline to purge half of pending mining applications, its chief said Sunday. Environment chief Ramon Paje said that as of Feb. 28, the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) was able to act upon 1,150 of 2,180 “inactive" mining applications pending before it. He said the numbers mean that MGB regional offices have “successfully" complied with the Feb. 20 deadline he earlier set to “cleanse" half of all pending mining applications. “We are treating this initial report of the MGB [as] a step forward in our drive to reform not only the mining industry but also our ranks as we try to eliminate all opportunities for corruption," he said in a statement Sunday. He likewise expressed optimism that investors will welcome the reforms aimed at “leveling the playing field" and eliminating “non-performers and less serious investors." A total of 903 mining applications were either denied or disapproved, while 247 mining applications were endorsed, according to Paje. The DENR chief also said he hopes the MGB will be able to dispose of all pending mining applications before the year ends. Paje earlier ordered cancelled over 500 mining permits and applications before the MGB in line with the DENR’s anti-corruption drive. The department has also stopped accepting new mining permit applications nationwide, supposedly “to enhance the management of the country’s natural resources." [See: DENR suspends issuance of mining permits] — JE, VS, GMA/News