COMPLIANCE AND BEYOND: A Guidebook on Corporate Social Responsibility for the Philippine Mining Industry
June 22, 2010

Compliance and Beyond: A Guidebook on Corporate Social Responsibility for the Philippine Mining Industry is an effort of the country’s Chamber of Mines to demonstrate its commitment to the tenets of responsible mining and the goals of sustainable development through the framework of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The Guidebook aims to provide basic information to large-scale mining companies about current national law and policy governing the various stages of mining operations, including relevant international norms, ethical standards, and CSR practices.

The Guidebook aims to encourage the mining companies not only to comply with the law- which is part of their organizational ethos – but to undertake voluntary initiatives that assume responsibility for the impact of their activities on people and the environment, and foster community growth and development. The Guidebook will also serve as a starting document for developing a framework for constructive engagement between mining companies and stakeholders at all phases of a mining project.

The draft Guidebook is based on a desk research of existing literature and related materials on CSR, responsible mining, and sustainable mining; major legislation and administrative issuances; and international guidelines on mining and development that are mostly voluntary in nature.

Specifically, it contains chapters on mining as it relates to development: the concept of corporate social responsibility and its relevance to the mining industry, including some stakeholder perceptions that the Guidebook hopes to address; and finally, CSR guidance along the different phases of mining in various thematic areas, such as health and safety, environment, community engagement and development, labour, human rights, and transparency and accountability.

A process for obtaining further comments and feedback has been undertaken from various stakeholders in the country. The Draft Guidebook has been presented to the mining industry last December 15, 2009, to the different concerned agencies of the government last February 17, 2010, to various stakeholders in Mindanao on February 25, 2010, Visayas on April 22, 2010 and in Luzon last May 27, 2010. A national summit will be undertaken in Manila on July 2010 to present the revised Guidebook including inputs from the nationwide engagements.

The CSR Guidebook for the Mining Industry will be launched and presented during the Mining Philippines 2010 Conference and Exhibition scheduled on September 14-16, 2010 at the Manila Hotel.

Thereafter, standards will be developed from where compliance will be gauged and where progress can be monitored. This will be undertaken by a CSR Institute that will train community relations officers on the ground.