He said the funding needs of the 23 priority projects the government has been pushing has been raised to $ 8 billion from an initial estimate of $ 6.5 billion.

Another $ 500 million is required to jump-start 37 mining exploration projects, he said. More than half of these projects have already forged partnerships while the rest are still settling legal and corporate problems.

"We are looking at close to $ 8.5 billion that are required to get these projects moving at either expansion, development, feasibility, confirmatory drilling, greenfield exploration," said Romualdez, who is also president of the country’s oldest mining firm Benguet Corp.

The Philippine mining industry is targetting to be the seller’s market for minerals and metals this year, aiming to triple the value of the region’s output to $ 5 billion in the next three to five years.

He said of the 23 projects operated, four are already operating, two may operate within two years, while the rest are finalizing agreements with joint venture partners or are into a settlement of legal or corporate issues.

Of the 37 exploration activities, more than half have found joint ventures and the rest are settling legal and corporate issues, he added.

He said to revitalize the mining industry, the government needs to invest in the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) so that the agency performs its function to provide legal and administrative safeguards.

If the government is expecting for the industry to generate more jobs and revenues, it should implement the law to the fullest, he said.

"Law itself is not a problem, but how it is used," he pointed out, saying that the government should seriously implement mining laws

With only one-third of the entire archipelago considered geographically prospective areas for metallic minerals, a large portion of country’s total land area has yet to be tapped, he said.

He said the country should have been gaining billion in revenue exports if the mining operations were not derailed.

He stressed the administration should exhaust the means to promote the mining industry, since the country is declared as one of the most highly mineralized countries in the world with total mineral wealth estimated at more than 0 billion.

He said the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) resistance against the mining operations has "little effect" in the change of national policy and mineral activities, citing that the CBCP’s statement is only a reaction to the Australianbased Lafayette twin spills in Rapu-Rapu, Albay.

However, he said he welcomed any move to review to Mining Law to assure that the industry is on track of sustainable and responsible mining. (CML)