Tulfo grills DENR over lack of transparency on mining info

November 19, 2024 | 3:30pm

MANILA, Philippines — Sens. Raffy Tulfo and Cynthia Villar butted heads over the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), with Tulfo questioning the agency’s transparency regarding mining activities.

During the Senate’s plenary sessions for the budget, which stretched into the early hours of Tuesday, November 19, Tulfo questioned why the DENR issued a circular stating that certain mining information, particularly applications for Environmental Compliance Certificates (ECC), was exempt from the Freedom of Information (FOI) order.

“Exempted sa Freedom of Information Act ‘yung ‘pag provide ng mga miners, mining companies, ng mga data, information, about