PH lauded for management of natural resources

The Philippines has made "meaningful progress" in terms of governing natural resources, a global report said, particularly citing sweeping reforms in the country's mining sector.

 

Source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/photos/loader-dumps-sand-magnetized-black-sand-mining-equipment-photo-144007951.html

New York-based Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) placed the Philippines 23rd out of 58 countries in terms of management of oil, gas and minerals.

The country bagged a score of 54 out of 100 points in the "Resource Governance Index" which RWI said is a basically a "measure of transparency and accountability."

The Philippines "ranked in the top half of countries surveyed on all four components," which included institutional and legal setting; reporting practices; safeguards and quality controls; and enabling environment.

Its performance suggests that the government "has made meaningful progress toward improved resource governance," RWI said.

The country performed best in terms of institutional and legal setting, where it got a score of 63 out of 100.

RWI said the score was the "product of comprehensive mining legislation but incomplete disclosure requirements."

"In July 2012 the government announced it would stop issuing mining licenses while it revised the sector's legal framework," the report said.

It was referring to Executive Order 79 issued by President Benigno Aquino III, which bans mining in prime agricultural areas and 78 identified ecotourism spots.

EO 79 also prohibits the issuance of new mining permits until Congress passes a measure which will increase the government's share in mining revenues.

Th government in a statement said the country's ranking affirms "the comprehensiveness of our mining laws and how they facilitate transparency, accountability and open or fair competition."

"This is indirectly a recognition that the issuance of EO 79 by President Aquino was indeed the perfect vehicle to reform the mining industry," Environment Sec. Ramon Paje said.

The Philippines, however, posted a "failing" score of 46 out of 100 in terms of enabling environment due to "mediocre global rankings on corruption control and the rule of law."

The country last year rose to ranking 105th out of 176 from 129th out of 183 in 2011 in the "Corruption Perception Index" put out by Transparency international.

It meanwhile ranked 138th out of 185 countries in the International Finance Corp. and World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" report, compared to ranking 136th out of 183 countries in 2011.

Source: ph.news.yahoo.com by Kim Arveen Patria