Philippine Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu said that he will uphold President Rodrigo Duterte's plans to ban open-pit mining. Mr. Cimatu informed lawmakers during a confirmation hearing in Congress that they will eventually abide by the instruction of the president to stop open-pit mining in the future.<br/><br/>Mr. Duterte said last month that he agreed with banning open-pit mining as it causes environmental damage. He however said that it would provide mining firms time to find other ways to extract minerals. <br/><br/>Open-pit mining is formally allowed under the Philippines' mining law, however Cimatu's predecessor, Regina Lopez, imposed a ban on it during the 10 months she spent in office before being forced out after failing to win congressional confirmation.