The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines said that the industry contributed P40.7 billion to government coffers in 2013, contrary to the statement of the 2015 Country Report of the Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
COMP said that oil and gas revenues are at P35.3 billion while the mining sector had P5.4 billion, using the Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative 2nd Country report for FY2013 used by Bantay Kita. The amounts came from the 20 material companies and four energy companies that participated in the initiative and with gross sales of P1 billion.
“The oil and gas sector is included in the extractive or mining industry although it is regulated by the Department of Energy,” said executive vice president of COMP, Nelia Halcon, in a statement.
Halcon also said that while large – scale miners that participated in the initiative, “mandatory expenditures incurred by our mining companies for the benefit of our host communities and the protection and rehabilitation of impacted areas, must not be dismissed.”
“Bantay Kita should also look at the total taxes paid by the mining sector which includes metallic and non-metallic mines aggregating to PHP25.8 billion in 2015 as indicated in the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) website. This excludes excise tax which will be made available by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in September,” she said.
Bantay Kita, a coalition of organizers for transparency and accountability in the extractive industry, said that large – scale miners paid only P5.4 million to the government, or 0.003 percent of the total government revenues in 2013, data from the same report used my COMP.
The coalition added that the mining industry should give a higher share to the government as payment for the minerals they extract.
“In 2013, a total of PHP2.9 billion was poured by the 20 mining companies into their respective Social Development and Management Programs (SDMP). The SDMP has a life cycle of five years and reporting expenditures on a yearly basis may not provide a holistic assessment of the program. This is our commitment to help in inclusive growth, especially in rural development where majority of the impoverished are,” Halcon said.
Corporate tax and excise tax on minerals both contribute to 27 percent of the total government share from the mining sector with royalties coming from mineral reservation contributing 15 percent.
