DENR Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje issued Department Administrative Order (DAO 2013-11) on February 20, 2013 requiring that applications for Exploration Permit (EP) should be filed in the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Central Office in Quezon City. Prior to the issuance of the said Order, EP applications are filed and processed at the regional offices of MGB.
DAO 2013-11 states that “Executive Order (EO) 79 provides, among others, that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) may continue to grant Exploration Permits under existing laws, rules and regulations and guidelines.”It is necessary to ensure that mining applications do not encroach on the “no-go zones for mining” as provided in EO 79, the Order further states.
Section 1 of the said Order provides that “an EP application encroaching on areas closed to mining and/or with incomplete mandatory acceptance requirements shall be automatically denied.”In Section 2, it states “upon payment of the filing and processing fee by the EP applicant, MGB Central Office shall forward the EP application and all pertinent documents to the MGB Regional Office concerned for evaluation through the Mining One-Stop-Shop pursuant to EO No. 79.
“The filing of application for exploration under the Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) shall follow the same procedures prescribed herein” states Section 3 of the said Order. (lartajo, MGB-6).