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BY HERBERT VEGO
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An enigma called Gina Lopez
“A LITTLE learning is a dangerous thing.”
This familiar quotation from Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744), which first saw print in An Essay on Criticism, obviously means that a person’s small amount of knowledge could mislead people.
It was probably “little learning” that motivated Regina Paz “Gina” Lopez – secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) – into signing an order suspending the operation of 10 mining companies, namely: Citinickel Mines and Development Corp. (CMDC), EMIR Mineral Resources Corp., Mt. Sinai Mining Exploration Corp., Claver Mineral Development Corp., Ore Asia Mining and Development Corp., Berong Nickel, BenguetCorp Nickel Mines, Inc., Eramen Minerals, Inc., LNL Archipelago Minerals, Inc., and Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. Eleven others were allowed to “correct infractions or face suspension.”
Most of the suspended firms were responsible for 18 million tons of ore, or 55.5 percent of the country’s nickel production, in 2015.
Among the suspension reasons cited: siltation of bodies of water, in effect contaminating farmlands and fishponds; local government and civil society opposition to the mining projects; and violation of environmental laws.
Our research shows that the suspension of the aforesaid companies had sprung from the findings of an audit team headed by DENR Undersecretary Leo Jasareno, who stressed that all of them have inadequate social development programs.
There is reason to believe that Jasareno decided not really on the basis of the team’s findings; he did so “under duress” to appease Boss Gina, whose prejudice against mining firms transcends legal grounds. It is no secret that she is a daughter of the late businessman Eugenio Lopez Jr. and sister of ABS-CBN radio-TV tycoon Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III.
Since the family is active in the energy sector, she has also attempted to suspend the coal-producing Semirara Mining and Power Corporation.
It is to Secretary Lopez, not to President Rody Duterte, that Jasareno owes his present appointment as senior undersecretary for environment. He is a holdover from the Aquino administration, for which he served as head of Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB) for six years.
If for reasons already cited Jasareno was correct in recommending the suspension of ten mining companies, then he could be charged with abetting their environmentally-destructive activities in the past six years. Since the perceived violations of the mining companies could not have transpired without his knowledge, then Lopez should have recommended his dismissal from office!
Our source said that it was not Jasareno but Mario Luis Jacinto whom the President appointed as DENR senior undersecretary for environment. How come Jasareno now occupies that position while Jacinto now holds the lower position of undersecretary for mining and Mines and Geo-sciences (MGB) director? Under whose authority did Lopez replace Duterte’s choice with a PNoy appointee? Is that not a case of insubordination on her part?
There are now nine undersecretaries serving DENR on mere strength of Ms. Lopez’s whim and caprice. Aside from Jasareno, three others hold no formal presidential appointment, hence merely officers-in-charge (OICs).
But it’s not nine but only five undersecretaries that the DENR is entitled to under Sec. 9 of Executive Order 192, to wit: “The Secretary shall be assisted by FIVE (5) undersecretaries who shall be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Secretary.”
Ironically, before Jasareno recommended the suspension of 10 mining companies, the anti-mining non-government organization Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) had called for his (Jasareno’s) removal in a rally before the DENR main office in Quezon City.
More ironically, ATM was represented in Jasareno’s audit team that marked “failed” the suspended mining firms.
Is Jasareno trying hard to placate ATM and kowtow to Madam Lopez at the same time?/PN
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