MANILA—President Rodrigo Duterte may be considered as the “greenest” president the country has ever had since former President Cory Aquino, an environment coalition said Monday.

Alyansa Tigil Mina National Coordinator Jaybee Garganera said Duterte is living up to his campaign promises and has made very clear pronouncements particularly with regards to the mining industry.

“We have seen the direct actions including the audit of the DENR

(Department of Environment and Natural Resources) and the suspension. Quite frankly we are surprised that he has been delivering on his campaign promises but we also know that there are still a lot of reforms that needs to be done,” Garganera said on Mornings @ ANC.

Earlier this year, Duterte backed DENR Secretary Gina Lopez's nationwide audit on mining firms and told mining companies to comply with environmental rules or risk being shut down, saying the country does not need mining revenues.

The DENR has since suspended 10 mines while 20 others are facing suspension after failing the nationwide audit.

Garganera added that with the landslide victory of Duterte last May, the President can set a clear direction for the mining industry in the country.

However, the coalition feels that despite the DENR and the President’s support for mining reforms, the legislative is not as keen in developing a national industrialization plan which specifies the role of mining in the country’s economy yet.

Garganera explains that the government should push for “rational” mining where needed minerals are first identified and then studied on when and how to mine, instead of “responsible” mining, a concept which Garganera says is a “myth.”

“Responsible mining is a myth because there’s no legal definition. Certainly, it doesn’t fall into the ISO certification,” he said.

He proposed to replace the current mining act with the Alternative Minerals Management bill, which limits the operating areas of mining companies and increases penalties for violators, since the current law is “inadequate and cannot respond to climate change.”

“With the current policies and current capacities of government we are always at the losing end of the deal,” he said.

Alyansa Tigil Mina is a coalition that challenges the aggressive promotion of large-scale mining in the Philippines.