A local court in Marinduque has ruled in favor of 30 individuals against the Marcopper Mining Corporation for a mine spill that wreaked havoc on a community on December 3, 1993 in what is dubbed to be the worst mining disasters to hit the country.
In a decision dated May 16, 2022, Judge Emmanuel Recalde of the Marinduque Regional Trial Court Branch 38 ordered Marcopper to pay each of the plaintiffs P200,000 in temperate damages and P100,000 in moral damages for the civil case filed in 2021. The court also ordered the mining company to pay P1 million as exemplary damages in favor of the plaintiffs.
The temperate damages had been paid per a memorandum agreement on July 16, 1994.
Environmental groups supporting the survivors of the 1993 Marcopper mining disaster issued a statement hailing what it considers as a landmark court decision.
“This is a victory for the plaintiffs who had waited two decades for justice as much as it is for the other plaintiffs who had unfortunately died in the course of this case. We celebrate this ruling and thank Judge Emmanuel Recalde for taking up [the] cudgels for the survivors and the environment,” Elizabeth Manggol of the Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC) said in news statement.
In 1990, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) ordered Marcopper to build a tailings dam below the Maguila-guila waste dump to prevent silt coming from the dumpsite to flow into the Mogpog River. The company constructed the dam, which was known as Maguila-guila Dam.
However, on December 6, 1993, because of typhoon “Monang,” the Maguila-guila Dam was destroyed and the areas in Mogpog, Boac, and Sta. Cruz were inundated. Barangays Bocboc and Magapua in Mogpog town were submerged in highly toxic floodwater causing extensive damages to property and agriculture.
“Large-scale mining projects present inevitable damage. The Marcopper disaster is a warning we should heed with the ongoing and planned large-scale projects in the country. The existing Mining Act is problematic. The alternative minerals management bill is urgently needed to safeguard the environment from mining and prevent disasters like this,” Lawyer E.M. Taqueban, executive director of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC) said for his part.
LRC, a nongovernment organization that provides free legal services to communities entangled in resource rights issues, served as the legal counsel of the plaintiffs.
“This emblematic case should serve as a warning for communities who wish to embrace mining. Litigating mining-related cases like this celebrated case is a slow march to justice. Communities must think their decisions through for the impact of the environment can be irreversible. In the case of Marinduque, the river affected by the spill is all but dead. With this ruling, Judge Recalde has shown that environmental cases do have a fighting chance in our judicial system,” Ryan Roset, director for legal services coordinator of LRC, said for his part.
Meanwhile, the court has not ruled on the prayer for the issuance of an order for the complete rehabilitation of the Mogpog River pending another petition before a higher court.
Likewise, the court did not rule on the total closure and removal of the Marcopper dumps under the same justification and considering the fact that the government has already ordered the cessation of all the operations of Marcopper.