APEX VS. SOUTHEAST MINDANAO GOLD MINING CORP, ET AL.

G.R. Nos. 152613 & 152628

November 20, 2009
FACTS: Southeast Mindanao Gold Mining Corporation (SMGM) assails the
Courts Decision dated 23 June 2006, which held that the assignment of
Exploration Permit (EP) 133 in favor of SMGM violated one of the
conditions stipulated in the permit, i.e., that the same shall be for the
exclusive use and benefit of Marcopper Mining Corporation (MMC) or its
duly authorized agents. In view of this, and considering that under Section
5 of Republic Act No. 7942, otherwise known as the Mining Act of1995,
mining operations in mineral reservations may be undertaken directly by
the State or through a contractor, the Court deemed the issue of ownership
of priority right over the contested Diwalwal Gold Rush Area as having
been overtaken by the said proclamation. Thus, it was held in the Assailed
Decision that it is now within the prerogative of the Executive Department
to undertake directly the mining operations of the disputed area or to award
the operations to private entities including petitioners Apex and Balite,
subject to applicable laws, rules and regulations, and provided that these
private entities are qualified.
Issue: Is PP No. 297, declaring the Diwalwal Gold Rush Area as a mineral
reservation, valid and constitutional, on the ground that it lacks the
concurrence of Congress as mandated by Section 4, Article XII of the
Constitution?
Ruling: PP No. 297 is valid and constitutional even without concurrence
from Congress. The Court recognized that the questioned proclamation
came from a co-equal branch of government, which entitled it to a strong
presumption of constitutionality. The presumption of its constitutionality
stands inasmuch as the parties in the instant cases did not question its
validity, much less present any evidence to prove that the same is
unconstitutional. Section 4, Article XII of the Constitution provides that the
area covered by forest lands and national parks may not be expanded or
reduced, unless pursuant to a law enacted by Congress. SEM does not
allege nor present any evidence that Congress had already enacted a
statute determining with specific limits forest lands and national parks.
Considering the absence of such law, Proclamation No. 297 could not have
violated Section 4, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution. In addition, there is
nothing in the constitutional provision that prohibits the President from
declaring a forest land as an environmentally critical area and from
regulating the mining operations therein by declaring it as a mineral
reservation in order to prevent the further degradation of the forest
environment and to resolve the health and peace and order problems that
beset thereat.