{"id":169375,"date":"2018-07-05T01:18:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T05:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=169375"},"modified":"2018-07-05T01:18:17","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T05:18:17","slug":"duterte-suspects-conspiracy-led-to-gina-lopezs-removal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/05\/duterte-suspects-conspiracy-led-to-gina-lopezs-removal\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte suspects \u2018conspiracy\u2019 led to Gina Lopez\u2019s removal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cWhen<\/a>
\u201cWhen Ma\u2019am Gina was removed by the Commission on Appointments. It was \u2013 maybe because she became very strong against the business in mining industry. I think there was a conspiracy to remove her. And they did,\u201d Duterte said in his speech during Wednesday’s 31st founding anniversary celebration of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Quezon City. (PCOO photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 A year after his former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez was rejected by powerful Commission on Appointments (CA), President Rodrigo Duterte said he suspects “conspiracy” behind her removal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Ma\u2019am Gina was removed by the Commission on Appointments. It was \u2013 maybe because she became very strong against the business in mining industry. I think there was a conspiracy to remove her. And they did,\u201d Duterte said in his speech during Wednesday’s 31st founding anniversary celebration of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Quezon City.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell anyway, the rest is history. She was doing well. She was going against moneyed people and she was against the destruction of her native land,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Duterte described Lopez as passionate \u201cin expressing your anger and your desire to save our country, the native land\u201d.<\/p>\n

During her term as DENR chief, Lopez drew the ire of the mining industry when she ordered the closure of over-mining sites that affect the watersheds and threatened to ban open-pit mining in the country.<\/p>\n

In his speech, Duterte has reiterated his plan to ban open-pit mining which is \u201creally destroying the land\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019d like to reiterate to you again what I said during the last meeting in the Cabinet that there will be a time, I still have time left, that I will have to ban open-pit mining. I will destroy it,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Duterte said he told incumbent Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu that \u201cthere has to be a time that we have to decide just to tell them frankly\u201d.<\/p>\n

The President said they can find other sources of the PHP70 billion which the country gets from the mining industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut open-pit mining is really destroying the land. It catches — it\u2019s like a water basin. It catches the water. Loosens the soil. And every now and then, you have this landslide,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

He said the poor Filipino people living near the open-pit mining are helpless.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mining people know that I will really stop it. Maybe they\u2019d try to revive it at some other time, but it\u2019s not really my concern anymore. I\u2019ll just do what I have to do during my time,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Duterte commended the DENR officials and employees for ensuring the proper conservation and management of the environment and natural resources in the last 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201dFor more than three decades, you have been government\u2019s effective arm in ensuring the proper conservation, management, development and use of the country\u2019s environment and natural resources,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough your efforts, we ensure that the benefits of nature are shared by all Filipinos today as well as the future generations,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Duterte urged the DENR to \u201ccontinue to faithfully fulfill its mandate despite external pressures from stakeholders with competing interest\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also called on DENR personnel to continue supporting the development agenda of his administration \u201cso that we can uplift the lives of our kababayans and give them the decent and comfortable lives they rightfully deserved\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI assure you that you have my full support in this endeavor. Don\u2019t be afraid to work. This I can guarantee you: However busy I am, if you do your duty in accordance with the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(If) you are facing a suit or you are being sued and you believe it\u2019s part of your job, just tell me the truth and I will defend you. That I can assure,\u201d he added, drawing applause from the audience inside the amphitheater of Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center.<\/p>\n

Duterte congratulated the recipients of the patents and titles that DENR has distributed through \u201cHandog Titulo 2018\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI congratulate the recipients of the patents and titles and I hope that these can help them improve the quality of their lives and that of their families,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 A year after his former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez was rejected by powerful Commission on Appointments (CA), President Rodrigo …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":89154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[28567,11745],"class_list":["post-169375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-department-of-environment-and-natural-resources-denr","tag-gina-lopez","mauthors-jelly-musico","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}