THE Philippine government has renewed the Didipio Mine Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) for an additional 25 years beginning June 19, 2019, according to the Australian OceanaGold Corporation.

In a statement, OceanaGold said the renewed FTAA reflects similar financial terms and conditions while providing additional benefits to the regional communities and provinces hosting the operation.

OceanaGold operates the Didipio Gold and Copper Project in the upland town of Kasibu in Nueva Vizcaya province.

“We are pleased to confirm the renewal of the Didipio Mine’s FTAA and thank the government for their endorsement and renewal. We have worked through the renewal process in partnership with the government and regulatory agencies,” Michael Holmes, president and chief executive officer of OceanaGold, said.

Holmes said the company is looking forward to restarting its activities and continuing working in partnership with the regulators, communities, employees and other stakeholders.

He said OceanaGold maintained the mine and associated facilities in a state of operational standby.

“The company’s first operational priority is the rehiring and training of its Philippine workforce, which will include a focus on safeguarding workers from the current risks associated with Covid-19,” Holmes said.

“Didipio operates to the highest environmental and social standards and has been recognized as one of the most responsible in the country.”

The firm’s management suspended its Didipio Mine when the initial validity of its FTAA with the Philippine government covering 25 years expired.

The initial 25-year FTAA took effect on June 20, 1994 and expired on June 20, 2019, a year after OceanaGold lodged its renewal application.

An FTAA is a permit issued to a multinational company sharing technology and resources to explore and extract minerals in the Philippines.

Didipio residents said they look forward to going back to their jobs that OceanaGold created either directly or indirectly.

The long-delayed renewal of FTAA led to the layoff of 80 percent of its workforce, or more than 620 workers, in the suspended mining operations in the Didipio Mine.

This excludes thousands of workers in different business and service sectors that were indirectly created by the advent of large-scale mining operations in the province, particularly that of OceanaGold.

MANILA (May 30)—To boost the country’s climate resilience and address ocean plastic pollution, the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) and the Korean International Cooperation Agency (Koica) have forged an agreement in their pursuance of development projects in the Philippines.

In a United States Embassy press statement, these leading development assistance agencies of the United States of America and the Republic of Korea said they have signed a memorandum of agreement (MoU) on April 7, 2021 to explore potential partnership in an array of sectors.  

The US Embassy said their partnership projects include poverty reduction in rural areas, empowerment of women and girls, water resource management, community rehabilitation in Marawi, and climate resilience. 

Under a project titled “Climate Resilient Cities,” the US Embassy said both countries aim to strengthen the resilience of Philippine cities to address the growing climate threats and vulnerability and pursue Marine Litter Management initiatives to mitigate the impacts of ocean plastic pollution. 

On May 21, 2021, the Korea-US Summit was conducted in Washington D.C. and one of the key elements of the Joint Statement and the Joint Fact Sheet of the Summit was on expanding the US-Korea partnership in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.

John Law, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, noted that for the past 75 years, the US has been a strong friend, partner and ally of the Philippine government in achieving its long-term vision of sustainable and inclusive growth for the Filipino people.

“Our work with like-minded partners like Korea will further advance our shared development objectives as we support the Philippines in its journey to self-reliance,” Law said.

For his part, Korean Ambassador Inchul Kim said Korea is glad to strengthen its partnership with the US in the areas of development cooperation in the Philippines as reflected in the MoU in April and highlighted in last week’s Korea-US Summit. 

“We will continue to work closely together in the Philippines to promote sustainable development in the Bayanihan spirit, particularly in addressing challenges faced by Philippine cities and vulnerable communities amid rising climate change concerns, among others,” Kim said.

Both countries are among the largest bilateral donors in the Philippines. Korea is the second-largest development assistance country donor and has expanded its development assistance in both grants and budgetary support in the Philippines for the past 30 years.