BSP’s IRR in gold buying to favor SSM

October 21, 2019 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) vowed that in due time it will release its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 11256 “An Act To Strengthen The Country’s Gross International Reserves.”
BSP assistant governor Iluminada Sicat said the IRR when approved, it will only require small-scale miners (SSM) to present their Tax Identification Number (TIN) and proof of impending application of Minahang Bayan (MB) from the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) to secure a temporary certification and avail the tax exemptions in selling gold to the country’s central bank.
She added under the proposed IRR, small scale miners must be duly registered following existing DENR regulations or by any government agency. On the part of traders, aside from TIN they will be only required to present proof of pending of accreditation with BSP, and certification where they sourced the gold.
Under the IRR, small-scale miners and traders shall be given a period of one year, and may be extended for a period of three years. Actually, Sicat and other BSP officials recently presented the draft IRR to small-scale miners, and other stakeholders in the Cordillera.
Early this year, President Rodrigo Dutere has signed RA 11256 exempting small-scale gold miners from paying income and excise taxes when selling gold to BSP. The measure is intended to boost the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) and global economic standing and encourage the small-scale mining sector.
The BSP is mandated by law to purchase gold from local small scale miners. In a similar development, Engineer Lomino Kaniteng, president of the Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners, Inc (BFSSMI), who was present during the consultation, appealed to BSP through assistant governor Sicat, to help them by urging DENR to lift the stoppage order against small-scale mining operations in the Cordilleras.
“What will we sell (gold) when our small-scale miners are not allowed to conduct small-scale mining operations because of the existing stoppage order,” Kaniteng lamented. BSP assistant governor Sicat for her part vowed to present and discussed with concerned agencies regarding the plight of local ssm.
 
Primo Agatep/ABN