President Rodrigo Duterte said he would try to ask Congress to pass a law to totally ban mining after the May 2019 elections.

In a speech in Catarman, Samar on Tuesday, Duterte again lamented that the damage to the people and the environment by the mining operations in the country is far great than the P70 billion that the government could collect as revenue annually.

"There's a law allowing mining in the Philippines. I'm not the one to (ban it), it's Congress. But after the elections, there will be new faces. I will try to totally ban mining," he said.

Duterte said he was really mad about the mining operations in the country.

"It contributes only P70 billion in the whole country. The land has been destroyed, there were landslides which killed people, perhaps if we're going to repair, it will cost 70 billion (pesos) times five," Duterte said.

Landslides struck Itogon, Benguet and Naga City in Cebu recently killing over a hundred people, while dozens were still missing.

The areas, which were hit by landslides, were near the mining areas. Celerina Monte/DMS