MANILA – Environment Secretary Gina Lopez on Tuesday stood by her decision to shutter or suspend 28 mines, saying only the courts could stop her.

Lopez said 15 of the 23 mines that she ordered closed were located in watersheds, which endanger both the host communities and the water supply in the area.

“The money that people want to make, and the gold and nickel they want to get, cannot and must not be more important than the quality of life of our people,” Lopez told ANC’s “Headstart.”

“I don’t like mining in watersheds. You kill the future,” she added.

• READ: Lopez suspends, closes several mines in environment crackdown

Lopez said the industry-wide audit that was the basis for her decision recommended a fine for the miners.

She said past leaderships of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau had a “very close and intimate” relationship with mining companies, which affected the agency’s ability to act as a regulator.

“At the end of the day, I decide. I have the mandate and the authority to decide,” she said.

“They can go to the court and whatever, until the decision is made by the court they have to stop operations,” she said.

• READ: Miners seek Duterte’s final decision on closure order

Lopez said economic gains from mining should not be at the cost of the poor, as she reiterated her campaign for "social justice."

"Why can't we have a GDP (economy) and stock market that is based on decency?" she said.

"I am emotional. I don't like the fact that people are suffering. It hits my heart," she said.