Environmental groups under Kalikasan PNE and other progressive groups protested at the foot of Mendiola in Manila to call for the scrapping of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 (PMA95) on its 30th year on March 3. The protesters carried a map of the Philippines showing where the largest mines in the country are and the political dynasties that own them.

“This law is the root of the continued encroachment of foreign and multinational corporations in our country to establish colossal mines,” according to Bayan Muna Partylist.

According to Kalikasan, the past 30 years clearly showed this law has only enriched a few bureaucrats and left nothing but damage to the environment, social injustice and intensified exploitation.

“For the past three decades, the Philippine Mining Act has served as a legal framework for the systematic plunder of the country’s mineral resources, and the enrichment of compradors, oligarchs, bureaucrat-capitalists and their foreign partners,” Kalikasan PNE stated.

Bayan Muna’ s fourth nominee Eufemia Cullamat said the supposed benefits of mining are not only contradictory to its damaging reality, it also justifies state repression of the people, especially the indigenous peoples.

Using the law and their political power, the oligarchs expanded their respective “empires” and amassed wealth, to the detriment of peasant and indigenous communities, watersheds and forests. They used their government positions to manipulate regulations, grant permits and ignore violations of environmental protection requirements.

“The mutually beneficial relationship between politicians and mining companies is clear,” according to the group. Among these politicians are Senator Francis Tolentino, Department of National Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro and biggest of all, House Speaker Martin Romualdez. The Villar and Gatchalian families also own extensive mining operations.

Foreign companies have greatly benefited from the greed of these bureaucrats, according to the group. These include giant mining companies from Canada, Australia, China and UK.

“The benefits brought by liberalization in mining have been greatly exaggerated,” according to Kalikasan. From 2020 to 2023, only 16% of the total mining production in the form of taxes and shares goes to the state. For every ₱100 worth of minerals extracted by companies, only ₱16 goes to the state.