The Intergovernmental Relations Body (IGRB) has agreed that the Mining Industry Coordination Council (MICC), together with representatives and experts from the Bangsamoro Government (BG), will conduct an audit on the operations of mines within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

The IGRB said the participation of BG experts and representatives in the audit will provide the body with a baseline on the status of mining activities in the Bangsamoro region and allow the transfer of skills and technology to BARMM in the evaluation of mining operations.

Co-chaired by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and BARMM Education Minister Mohagher Iqbal, the IGRB reached this consensus during its 7th meeting held last March 26.

In that meeting, the BG agreed to the inclusion of the mines in the Bangsamoro region in the forthcoming third round of the MICC audit.

The audit, targeted to commence in October, will include four mines located in the BARMM.

The evaluation will cover the technical, legal, social, economic and environmental aspects of the mining operations–the same framework used in the first two audits done by the MICC on 50 mining operations across the country starting in 2018.

The interagency MICC was constituted in 2012, but it was only during the Duterte administration that the review or audit of mining operations was initiated by the Council under the co-chairmanship of Secretary Dominguez and Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu.

The first phase of the MICC review was done in February to August 2018, while the second one was conducted from October 2019 to December 2020.

According to the IGRB, experts from the BARMM may also be included in future mining audits outside of the autonomous region to further develop their skills and technical capacity.

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