The Environment Department has started asking mining companies to secure an export permit to ensure proper taxes are paid to the national government.

“I issued an order along this line and we are now implementing it. First day of work, we’ve already started implementing it,” said Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza.

“Responsible mining companies are welcoming this, because theirs is precisely a legitimate business. Those who are complaining are those who trying to do hocus-pocus on their business.”

The new policy requires mining companies and traders to obtain a permit before shipping out minerals and by-products.

Environment said the mining export permit “will eradicate undervaluation, misdeclaration and red tape in the exportation of mineral ores and improve the collection of excise tax on minerals.’’

The policy will also ensure that exported minerals are extracted legitimately and owners pay the proper tax based on the tonnage, grade and volume declared in the permit.

“The permit will afford us some control over our natural resources before it is brought out of the country,” Atienza said.

He said he agreed to suggestions to delegate permit approval to regional governments once the system was fine-tuned.

“We will test the system of doing this in the central office before we designate people to implement the system at the regional level,” he said.

Earlier, Atienza said the central office in Quezon City was the only authorized agency to issue mineral export permits to make sure that the minerals were properly valued and taxes correctly assessed. Othel V. Campos