“My opposition to Secretary Lopez is that, it’s not because she’s part of the Lopez family, but she’s now the [environment] secretary charged with looking at this very, very serious environmental disaster,” said Carlos Arcilla, a geosciences professor at the University of the Philippines (UP). This conflicts with Lopez’s declaration that she is against open-pit mining in watershed areas, according to the professor. Lopez, however, replied that First Balfour was not operating and that it had not been issued any mineral production sharing agreement. Pursuing the issue, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano noted that First Balfour seemed to have been exempt from Lopez’s mining ban in watersheds. Civil society groups supporting Lopez have criticized new CA rules allowing members to vote in secret if called for in a motion.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 08, 2017 15:56 UTC