Benguet small-scale miners push for lower mining fees

February 9, 2018 Latest News

ITOGON, Benguet – Small-scale miners in the province have sought the assistance of local leaders in asking for the lowering of the processing and filing fees covered under the so-called “Minahang Bayan”.
Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan said local small-scale miners, locally called “pocket miners”, had been clamoring for lower fees and the so-called retention fees of the total value of gold that the miners extract.
Palangdan said P1,600 was being collected from the miners as payment for processing and filing fees.
He added, small-scale miners are also asking to lower the weight and percentage requirements of gold to be sold to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
As this developed, the local government of Itogon and the Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners are finalizing a proposal to be submitted to the BSP and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to address the issue.
The mayor admitted that since the BIR increased the creditable withholding tax from 2 percent to 5 percent, local small-scale miners have stopped selling gold to the BSP and, instead, go directly to the “black market”, depleting the country’s gold reserves.
“The small-scale miners in Benguet are willing to pay,” Palangdan noted, saying he has been going to the different barangays in his town, urging the small-scale miners to sell their gold to the BSP.
Itogon is host to 66 percent of small-scale miners in the province of Benguet, with the remaining 34 percent spread in the municipalities of Tuba, Mankayan, Kabayan, Bokod, and Atok.
“It’s a way of demonstrating our support to the tax move of President Rodrigo Duterte,” Palangdan said.
Out of the 4 percent excise tax being collected, 60 percent goes to the national government, while the remaining 40 percent is shared among the host of mining activities in a province, municipality, and the barangays.
Palangdan stressed that under the 1995 Mining Act, small-scale miners have to organize a “Minahang Bayan.” Consultations on this were now ongoing in Itogon, he said.
He added his municipality was currently conducting a Comprehensive Land Use Planning, aimed at identifying areas for the Minahang Bayan.
The Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners reportedly said there were now at least 25,000 small-scale mining operations in Benguet, with 66 associations established. Primo Agatep, PNA