Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo Loyzaga said that she is in favor of small-scale mining in the country, provided that the environmental impact will be strictly monitored by the local government.
In a report by GMA News Online, Loyzaga said that small-scale mining can become means to “lift certain populations out of their condition, socio-economically.”
However, Loyzaga said that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) must strengthen its capacity to observe, monitor, and evaluate the environmental impacts of small-scale mining at the local level.
The DENR secretary noted that they had already had initial conversations on how the department could coordinate with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in monitoring small-scale mining activities.
Loyzaga said that monitoring will be able to maintain integrity in the ecosystems amid the necessity of small-scale mining activities being made available to those in the barangay and community level who need the income.
