South Cotabato Provincial Board supports Governor Pingoy vs SMI project | Sun.Star.
By Bong S. Sarmiento
February 20, 2013

KORONADAL CITY — The Provincial Board (PB) of South Cotabato rallied behind the environment code that bans open pit mining, as the local Catholic Church urged the public to intensify the opposition to the Tampakan copper-gold project now that it obtained an environmental compliance certificate (ECC).

“The SP (PB) of South Cotabato will maintain its stand that the open pit ban provided for in its environment code will remain until a competent court declares it ultra vires (beyond one’s legal power or authority),” Vice Governor Elmo Tolosa, the PB’s presiding officer, said Wednesday.

He said the board was not surprised that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) eventually granted the ECC permit of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) because it was in favor of the project all along.

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