Is the DENR really serious in protecting our mountains and forests from giant mining companies?

Hindi naman tayo kulang sa mga batas na pumoprotekta sa ating kalikasan laban sa mapaminsala at malawakang pagmimina. Lalong hindi tayo kulang sa mga departments at agencies. Meron tayong DENR. Meron din tayong NCIP for protecting ancestral lands. 

Under DENR, there are several line bureaus which include the following:

1. Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)

2. Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB)

3. Environmental Management Bureau (EMB)

4. Forest Management Bureau (FMB)

In short, we have laws and departments, and bureaus, and commissions that should be more than enough to regulate destructive mining. Yet, here we are. Giant mining firms continue to flatten mountains and threaten biodiversity hotspots in the country. 

Ordinary folks have no choice but to set up barricades and try to stop the firms themselves. Because the system that was supposed to protect them has failed them.