DAVAO CITY – The City Council approved during its regular session on Tuesday the proposed resolution enacting an ordinance that will ban mining activities here.
An Ordinance Closing off the City of Davao to Mining Operations passed the third and final reading despite the existence of Republic Act No 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.
The ordinance, specifically Section 5, states that “no approval shall be granted or issued by the city through its Sangguniang Panglungsod to any person, natural or juridical, to undertake any and all forms of mining operation in any area within the territorial jurisdiction of Davao City, except rocks and mineral substances classified under the quarry resources.”
The ordinance, which was authored by councilors Leo Avila III and Danilo Dayanghirang, will prohibit any person from initiating mining operations in the jurisdiction of Davao City.
As an exception, the ordinance does not cover the extracting of rocks and other minerals under the classification of “quarry resources”.
Quarry resources are any common rock or other mineral resources that does not contain what the ordinance specified as metals or metallic constituents or other valuable minerals in economically workable quantities.
Moreover, non-metallic minerals, precious and semi-precious stones that may later be discovered having economically workable quantities will not be classified under the category of quarry resources and is therefore covered by the ordinance.
The penal provision of the ordinance also states that any person found guilty violating the local law will be punished with imprisonment of not more than one year or a fine of not more than P5,000.
Nine councilors voted in favor of the proposal, two opposed, five abstained, one was not around during the votation while nine were absent during the session.
The ordinance will be published in full text in a newspaper once a week for three consecutive weeks and will take effect 15 days after its last publication.(davaotoday.com)
