Rep. Abdullah "Bobby" Dimaporo of the 2nd district of Lanao del Norte and member of the Commission on Appointments (CA) disputed claims to the contrary, and threw his support to full-blast mining operations in the country.

He argues that mining would mean jobs and money for rural folk.

Revenues from mining could also be used to boost the country’s economy.

"There is nothing wrong to have mining operations in the countryside as long as the mining operators follow all the requirements of the law to safeguard environment and protect the lives of the people," Dimaporo said.

Mining operations have been put on the limelight when leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in South Cotabato and Bicol and thousands of the faithful vehemently opposed the entry of large corporations in the extractive industry.

They claimed that mining has destroyed the environment and ruined the lives of people.

Contamination due to mercury and cyanide has been on the upswing, and the entry of more mining companies would aggravate the situation, they warned.

The mining controversy has ignited into a full-blown controversy recently when the prelates accused President Arroyo of dangling a rehashed poverty-alleviation program in several dioceses in an effort to court the Catholic hierarchy critical of her administration.

The program offers cheap rice and low-cost medicine to some of the poorest parishes in the country, according to the bishops.

The scheme was apparently hatched by the Office of Religious Affairs under the President.

A prelate, an anti-mining advocate whose diocese was furnished a copy of the letter nearly two weeks ago, said the program targeted the poorest dioceses in the country.

Some of these dioceses are also home to some of the most controversial mining operations, which are being opposed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, the prelate said.

"We weren’t born yesterday," the prelate told the Manila Bulletin. "It’s evident that the President is trying to court us."

The bishop, who comes from the south, asked not to be identified, saying he didn’t want his diocese to be the focus of controversy.

Malacañang denied the accusation, saying it had no other motive in its food and medical subsidies and other social projects than to address the plight of the poorest of the poor.

Offering cheap rice and medicine isn’t really new. The National Food Authority (NFA) has long been a source of rice priced below the ordinary market price. There are also "Botika ng Bayan" [People’s Drugstore] projects offering cheap medicine. Dimaporo, on the other hand, said anyone who is helping for the good of the people is to be supported.