THE House of Representatives on early Tuesday morning approved on third and final reading the proposed Act enhancing the fiscal regime for the local mining industry.
The measure, embodied in House Bill (HB) No. 8937, received 272 affirmative votes, four negative votes and one abstention during plenary session.
It was passed during a momentary suspension of the plenary debates of the P5.768-trillion General Appropriations Bill (GAB) for 2024.
Under the bill, four news section–151-A, 151-B, 151-C, and 51-D–are created under Republic Act (RA) No. 8424, also known as the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.
“No less than the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines has expressed support for the measure as it went through the legislative process in the House. I agree with the chamber that the fiscal changes being introduced by this bill will help the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery,” Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said.
Once enacted, the House-approved measure will subject large-scale metallic mining operations within mineral reservations to royalty rate of four percent of the gross output of the minerals or mineral products extracted or produced.
A margin-based royalty on income from metallic mining operations would be imposed on large-scale metallic mining operations outside mineral reservations.
Meanwhile, a royalty rate equivalent to one-tenth of one percent for small-scale metallic operations will be implemented.
The proposed statute also requires small-scale miners to register with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the Mining Board of the concerned local government unit (LGU) and encourage them to organize into cooperatives to qualify for the awarding of a People’s Small-Scale Mining Contract.
