SOUTH COTABATO, 10 October– Environmental justice group BAN Toxics has partnered with the South Cotabato Provincial Government for more transparent and accountable governance in the province through the Open Government Partnership Network.
“BAN Toxics believes that working with the Provincial Government of South Cotabato is essential in championing for the upliftment of the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector. Joining the Open Government Partnership Network at the provincial level is a step forward in strengthening the discourse on ASGM issues between the government, the civil society, and the ASGM community themselves,” BAN Toxics Deputy Director Mr. Reynaldo San Juan said.
In April 2018, the provincial government of South Cotabato led by Governor Daisy Fuentes was the only local government unit selected from the Philippines to be part of the Open Global Partnership Network. The Network currently only has 20 local governments in the world under the said program.
“Accountability, transparency, and citizen participation. These are key pillars of good governance that we have been promoting throughout our administration… Our efforts in good governance enabled us to shift from being a transparent government to a more open and inclusive one. This shift in governance allowed us to be selected… to be part of the global Open Government Partnership (OGP) Network,” said South Cotabato Governor Daisy Fuentes during her State of the Provincial Address on February 18, 2019.
Through the OGP Network, the South Cotabato Provincial Government and partners from the civil society made five commitments to make governance more open and accountable. These are on Open Procurement, Open Information, Open Monitoring Evaluation, Open Information, and Open Mining Information. BAN Toxics will be involved in the Open Mining Information.
Mr. Siegfred Flaviano of the South Cotabato Provincial Environment Management Office (PEMO) serves as a resource speaker for a stakeholder orientation on Open Mining Governance. (c) South Cotabato Open Government Partnership Facebook
The commitment on Open Mining Information will focus on policy development and the creation of transparent e-systems and channels to engage citizens in mining governance. Access to mining and quarry information will be prioritized through a website and social media. First step is to update and enhance the Provincial Environment Management Office (PEMO) database on mining and quarrying operations.
Through Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) resolutions, transparency initiatives, incentives, and branding will also be institutionalized. The said branding is BAN Toxics’ Compassionate Gold, under the organization’s CARING Gold Mining Project in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and funding from the US Department of Labor (US DOL). Compassionate Gold is the brand of gold extracted from the ASGM sector through legal and responsible methods. Its pilot site is in T’boli, South Cotabato. The branding aims to uplift the ASGM sector by providing them economic opportunities through legal gold extraction and connecting them to government support channels.
BAN Toxics Programme Manager for South Cotabato participates on a validation meeting about the open mining portal with Open Government Partnership Consultant Jose Solomon Cortez.
“We are hopeful that before 2020, all OGP systems will be institutionalized so that our commitment on OGP-Open Mining Information can benefit our ASGM communities as soon as possible,” Mr. San Juan said.