MindaNews » Bukidnon group backs alternative resource use bill.

By Walter I. Balane
August 11, 2012

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/10 Aug) – A group in Bukidnon composed of multi-sectoral organizations is seeking greater public support, especially from Bukidnon’s three congressional representatives, for the passage of the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB) to help protect the province’s remaining forest cover and natural resources.

In a press conference Wednesday afternoon, representatives from Lageng ta Bukidnon (Voice of Bukidnon) have called for public support for the AMMB, which seeks to scrap Republic Act 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 for the latter allegedly “caters to the interest of global extractive industry players.”

“Minerals are important resources that are part of our national patrimony. The AMM Bill champions conservation of non-renewable mineral resources for the benefit of both present and future generations by adopting a sustainable, rational, needs-based minerals management geared towards effective utilization of mineral resources for national industrialization and modernization of agriculture,” the group said in a statement emailed to the media.

Carl Cesar Rebuta, the main speaker presented by the group, said it is high time for a new framework calling for judicious use of mineral resources.

“We don’t need an alternative mining law. We needed a new policy framework in the use of our minerals, land and other natural resources,” he added.

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