The Philippine Congress could ratify a bill banning raw mineral exports as soon as June, the Senate leader said on Thursday, a plan that investors warn could lead to mine closures.
Congress is on a break after this week and sessions resume in June, but Senate President Francis Escudero hopes there would be a bicameral committee meeting with members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives to tackle the bill. “I’m hoping it will be done during the break so we can ratify it when sessions resume,” Escudero said in a briefing.
The bill aims to ban exports of raw ore in a bid to boost the downstream mining industry. It seeks to impose the ban five years after the law is signed to give miners time to build processing plants. “If this is done, I believe this will be a game changer for our country if we will have processing finally here,” said Escudero, who authored the bill which the Senate passed on third and final reading on Monday.
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