MORE THAN HALF of mining firms in the country did not disclose their beneficial ownership as of end-2020, which is part of the country’s commitment to international standards, Finance Assistant Secretary Maria Teresa S. Habitan said on Thursday.
“As of Dec. 29, 2020, 29 extractive companies or about 44% of those that had been requested to disclose their beneficial ownership information complied with the requirement,” Ms Habitan said in an online forum.
“The other companies have either declined publication or have missed the deadline due to roadblocks in securing the necessary board resolution,” she added.
Ms. Habitan said beneficial ownership disclosure is part of the country’s commitment to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), Open Government Partnership, and the Financial Action Task Force. It requires extractive industries to publish information related to beneficial ownership, including names of politically-exposed persons.
“To emphasize, beneficial ownership information publication was optional or voluntary. Those that declined publication faced no sanctions,” Ms. Habitan said.
Among local extractive companies, 37% did not participate while 18% complied partially.
Ms. Habitan said while some companies welcomed providing information related to beneficial ownership for the EITI report, they raised data privacy concerns.
“These companies gave PH-EITI a copy of their beneficial ownership declaration forms but refused to have this published,” she added.
EITI reports started in 2014 and have been used by policymakers to determine the payments the government can generate from the mining sector.
Heightened transparency in the industry is seen to increase payments made by extractive firms commensurate to their impact on the environment.
Ms. Habitan said authorities decided in February that policies related to reporting beneficial ownership will continue to be applicable for the 2021 and 2022 EITI reports in the absence of any regulation that would make it mandatory. — L.W.T. Noble