Amending P.D. No. 1251 Re: Imposition of Mine Wastes and Tailing Fee on Operating Mining Companies

September 8, 1980

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1720

AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1251 IMPOSING A FEE ON OPERATING MINING COMPANIES TO BE KNOWN AS "MINE WASTES AND TAILINGS FEE" TO COMPENSATE FOR DAMAGES TO PRIVATE LANDOWNERS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

WHEREAS, under Presidential Decree No. 1251, the "Mine Wastes and Tailings Fee" shall accrue to the reserve fund to be used exclusively for payment of damages on lands, agricultural crops and forest products, marine life and aquatic resources, the destruction of infrastructures, and the revegetation and rehabilitation of silted farm lands and other areas devoted to agriculture and fishing caused by pollution due to the operation of mining companies; casia

WHEREAS, the claims for damages caused by pollution are verified in the field by the Staff who render their reports to and are reviewed by the Committee created under the aforesaid Decree;

WHEREAS, the Committee and its Staff in the performance of their duties and functions, need field and travel expenses and monthly allowances;

WHEREAS, there being no appropriation for the purpose, it is necessary that such amounts should come from the reserve fund; and

WHEREAS, in view of damages caused to soils by siltation, there is a need to include the Bureau of Soils as a Member of the Committee; cd

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby decree and order the following:

 The Committee created under Presidential Decree No. 1251 and its Staff are hereby entitled to actual field and travel expenses and monthly allowances in an amount not exceeding P300,000.00 annually to be taken from the reserve fund.

 The Committee created under Presidential Decree No. 1251 is hereby expanded to include the Director of the Bureau of Soils as Member thereof.

SECTION 3. If any section or provision of this Decree is held or declared unconstitutional or invalid by a competent court, the other sections or provisions hereof shall continue to be in force as if the sections or provisions so annulled or voided had never been incorporated in the Decree;

SECTION 4. All laws, executive orders, decrees, rules and regulations or parts thereof, contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree, are hereby repealed and amended or modified accordingly. acd

SECTION 5. This Decree shall take effect immediately upon promulgation.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 8th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 76 No. 44, 8231-71 Supp., on November 3, 1980.