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| This miner carries a sack of Gold from the "Golden Mountain" Mt. Diwata: Photo by AFP |
The Philippines is known to be a country with one of the largest reserves of minerals in the world. The Aquino administration is seemingly feeling the pressure of campaigns to totally knock out mining in the country.
To date, Aquino administration wants the Philippine government to get it's fair share from the mining sector amounting to more then a trillion pesos.
"The goal of President Aquino is to make doing business in the Philippines more efficient, easier for businessmen, in particular those who are not as familiar as local businessmen," finance secretary Cesar Purisima said in a news briefing in the Malacañang presidentail palace.
Purisima said that the mining industry in the country can accelerate the growth of the economy. "Unfortunately in the past, the way the laws were implemented, it was not a true win-win situation where the government actually was not able to get its fair share from mining activities," Purisima said.
The finance secretary said total tax collection from the mining industry amounted to only a little over 2 billion pesos (US$46.8 million) while the country's total revenue was over 1.2 trillion pesos ($28.1 billion).
"So when you look at that and, at the same time, the impact to the communities that host it and the environment adjacent to it, you really have to ask yourself whether the way we're implementing it is what we describe as a responsible way of harnessing the wealth of the country," Purisima said.
"We are looking at various models, alternatives in the hope that this can be done so that all the interests of the different sectors are addressed," he added.
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