La Bugal Blaan Tribe vs Ramos (2004) (FINANCIAL/TECHNICAL AGREEMENT)

DOCTRINE I: FTTA’S should be limited to technical or financial assistance only.

RATIONALE: Constitutions/ instruments must be construed as to give effect to the intention of the people
who adopted it; what the constitution says according to the text of the provision, therefore compels
acceptance and negates the power of the courts to alter it.
Accordingly, assistance accorded by foreign-owned corporations in the larger scale exploration,
development and utilization should be limited to technical and financial assistance.
RATIONALE#2: The management or operation of mining activities by foreign contractors, which is the
primary feature of service contracts, was precisely the evil that the drafters of the 1987 Constitution wants
to eradicate.
DOCTRINE 2:
The collection of government share in financial or technical assistance agreement shall commence after the
financial or technical assistance agreement contractor has fully recovered its pre-operating expenses,
exploration, and development expenditures, inclusive.
APEX MINING VS SOUTHEAST MINDANAO (AUTHORITY AND POWER OF THE STATE
THROUGH THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT)
It is now up to the Executive Department whether to take the first option, i.e., to undertake directly the
mining operations of the Diwalwal Gold Rush Area.
As already ruled, the State may not be precluded from considering a direct takeover of the mines, if it is the
only plausible remedy in sight to the gnawing complexities generated by the gold rush. The State need be
guided only by the demands of public interest in settling on this option, as well as its material and logistic
feasibility.
DIFFERENCE IN DEFINITION
( S.P. METALS INC. VS. ANGELO REYES)
R.A. No. 7076
Small-scale mining refers to any single unit mining operation having an annual production of not more than
50,000 metric tons of ore.
P.D. No. 1899
Mining activities which rely heavily on manual labor using simple implements and methods and do not use
explosives and heavy mining equipment and does not provide an annual extraction limit of ores.
EXPLORATION PERMIT REVOCABLE WHEN DEMANDED BY POLICE POWER
“Indeed, a mining license, being a mere privilege, does not vest absolute rights in the holder. Thus, without
offending the due process and the non-impairment clauses of the Constitution, it can be revoked by the
State in the public interest.”
Republic vs Rosemoor Mining and Development Corp.
LEAGUE OF PROVINCES OF THE PHILIPPINES VS DENR SECRETARY
RULING: (AUTHORITY OF DENR VS LOCAL GOVERNMENT)
Control of the DENR/DENR Secretary over small-scale mining in the provinces is granted by three statutes:
(1) R.A. 7061 or The Local Government Code of 1991; (2) R.A. 7076 or the People's Small Scale Mining
Act of 1991; and (3) R.A. No. 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of1995.
The Constitutional guarantee of local autonomy in the Article X, Sec. 2 of the Constitution refers to the
administrative autonomy of the LGUs or the decentralization of government authority. It does not make
local governments within the State. Administrative autonomy may involve devolution of powers, but it is
still subject to limitations, like following national policies or standards and those provided by the Local
Government Code, as the structuring of LGUs and the allocation of powers/responsibilities/resources
among the LGUs and local officials are placed by the Constitution to Congress under Article X Section 3
It is the DENR which is in charge of carrying out the State’s constitutional mandate to control and supervise
the exploration, development and utilization of the country’s natural resources, pursuant to the provisions
of Section 17, b(3)(III) of the LGC. Hence, the enforcement of the small-scale mining law by the provincial
government is subject to the supervision, control and review of the DENR. The LGC did not fully devolve
to the provincial government the enforcement of the small-scale mining law.
RA 7076 or the People’s Small-Scale Mining program was established to be implemented by the DENR
Secretary in coordination with other government agencies (Section 4, RA 7076). Section 24 of the law
makes the Provincial/ Mining Regulatory Board under the direct supervision and control of the Secretary,
its powers and functions subject to review by the same.
Petitioner’s contention that the aforementioned laws and rules did not confer upon DENR and DENR
Secretary the power to reverse, abrogate, nullify, void, cancel the permits issued by the Provincial Governor
or small-scale mining contracts entered into by the Board are without merit because the DENR Secretary
was granted the power of review in the PMRB’s resolution of disputes under Sec. 24 of RA 7076 and
Section 22 of its IRR. The decision of the DENR Secretary to nullify and cancel the Governor’s issuance
of permits emanated from its power of review under RA 7076 and its IRR. Its power to review and decide
on the validity of the issuance of the Small-Scale Mining Permits by the Provincial Governor is a quasi-
judicial function which involves the determination of what the law is and what the legal rights of the
contending parties are, with respect to the matter in controversy and on the basis thereof and the facts
obtaining, the adjudication of their respective rights.