The Philippines has lifted a four-year ban on new open-pit mines, an official said yesterday, in a bid to revitalize the country’s COVID-19-battered economy that has been slammed by environmentalists as “short-sighted.” The move sees the government reverse a ban imposed in 2017, when the then-Philippine secretary of environment and natural resources blamed the sector for widespread ecological damage. Manila has since reversed course, encouraging mining investments to shore up government revenues as lockdowns and COVID-19 quarantine restrictions ravaged the economy. In April, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte — who had previously threatened to shut down the sector completely — lifted a nine-year ban