Countdown to the Report: Getting there...8 days...8 hours...24 minutes... Where are we at the end of October? Heres a rundown of what has happened, and what weve achieved, since last month. RECONCILIATION REPORT The First PH-EITI Country report will likely capture 91% of total revenues in mining and 96% of revenues in oil and gas, based on data presented to the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) by our Independent Administrator, Isla Lipana/PWC, on October 7, 2014. To date, all but one (Citinickel Mining) material companies in the mining sector have submitted their templates. In the oil and gas sector, one material company, Galoc Production, has not submitted its template as of this writing. On the government side, all agencies have submitted templates save one: the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, which has been tasked to report on the royalties of IPs in mining areas. Atty. Marie Gay Alessandra V. Ordenes | November 4, 2014 The DENR of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) through the ARMM-Office of the Regional Treasurer, has also submitted data to the IA, disclosing their 2012 collections from the lone operating large-scale mining company in the region, SR Languyan. The IA is scheduled to present its final findings to the MSG and the Technical Working Group (TWG) on November 7, 2014. The final approval of the report, with recommendations from the MSG, is scheduled on December 5, 2014, to be followed by the EITI report’s soft launch and press conference on December 10, 2014. BIR WAIVERS A total of 86.27% of companies, or 44 out of PH-EITI’s original list of 51 companies, have now complied with the waiver requirement. New waiver signatories include Mt. Sinai Mining Exploration and Development Corporation, AAM-PHIL Natural Resources Exploration and Development Corporation and Pacific Nickel Phils., Inc., all of which submitted their waivers to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB). An update may be found here. The IA is scheduled to present its final findings to the MSG and the Technical Working Group (TWG) on November 7, 2014. The final approval of the report, with recommendations from the MSG, is scheduled on December 5, 2014, to be followed by the EITI report’s soft launch and press conference on December 10, 2014. CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION PH-EITI is also at the final stages of compiling contextual information for the report. The following studies have been submitted to the MSG to date: legal framework, subnational payments, license processes, and state-owned enterprises. A chapter on processes followed by Indigenous Peoples in allowing extractive operations in ancestral domains will also be included, although this is not required under the EITI standard. An overview of the extractive industry, as well as a discussion on social expenditures and special payments, will likewise be part of the report. Although these studies will not be quoted in full in the report, the more salient points will be included, and links will be provided to the full studies. The EITI report’s contextual information is intended to give readers a complete picture of the extractive sector as part of the MSG’s objective for EITI implementation in the country. CONTRACT DISCLOSURE and MAPS OF EXTRACTIVE OPERATIONS An online portal containing full texts of mining, oil and gas contracts, with supporting documents and maps of existing mining, oil, and gas operations, is currently being prepared by PH-EITI in coordination with Open Data Philippines. For the first time, all this information will be found online in a single portal, to coincide with the publication of PH-EITI’s First Country Report. The uploading of contracts will, however, be done in phases, with priority given to the 51 companies who are part of the EITI report. Maps of extractive operations will also be provided, based on the format provided by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, but with the intent of coming up with more interactive functions by the second quarter of 2015. Contract disclosure is encouraged under the EITI standard. The PH-EITI MSG, in the early stages of implementation, agreed to include this in the report to foster full transparency. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the Department of Energy, who are in custody of these contracts, have agreed to publish them, although written consent from these agencies are still pending as of this writing.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 15:36:49 +0000