ENVIRONMENTAL groups under the Kalikasan-People’s Network for Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) on Sunday called on the government to go after Benguet Corp. and Apo-Cemex Corp. for the killer landslides that killed dozens of people in Itogon, Benguet, and Naga City, Cebu.
Kalikasan-PNE national coordinator Leon Dulce also chided President Duterte for what the group described as an attempt to divert the blood on the hands of big mining and quarrying firms to Typhoon Ompong.
The strong typhoon hit Northern Luzon on September 15 and pulled the southwest monsoon into dumping more rains over huge parts of Luzon. As rains soaked the soil in parts of the mountain regions, a landslide occurred in Benguet’s abandoned mine site in Itogon, which small-scale miners had occupied. Benguet Corp. and local officials said the small miners were illegally operating and had neither the firm’s nor the local government units consent.
The second deadly slide, in Naga City in Cebu, happened on Thursday at a quarry site of Apo Cement, prompting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to suspend all quarry operations in Cebu and six other areas.
According to Dulce, an investigation into operations of Benguet Corp. and Apo-Cemex is in order to determine their criminal and administrative liability.
“We cannot accept the usual refrains that ‘small-scale miners are at fault’ or ‘this is a case of force majeure,” Dulce told the BusinessMirror through Messenger.
Dulce said a congressional investigation should review the policy aspects in mining, particularly why the suspension order and its recommendation to immediately expedite the rehabilitation of Benguet Corp.’s mining area went unheeded.
DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu earlier ordered a fact-finding mission to look into the tragic landslides and determine the culpability not only of the mining and quarrying companies, but national and local government
officials, as well.
Cimatu also relieved all DENR-Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) officials in connection with the Naga, Cebu incident.
At a press conference on Thursday, Benguet Corp.’s Reynaldo P. Mendoza, senior vice president for Public Affairs, Legal Services and assistant corporate secretary of the company, welcomed the investigation but said the company has no partnership or no subcontracting arrangement with small-scale miners.
In fact, he said, they had repeatedly warned small-scale mining groups against digging gold in the Antamok area, which was shut down since 1997. The mining area was under “care and maintenance” status.
It was only in 2016, however, when the company filed its amended application for Final Mine Rehabilitation and Decommissioning Plan after deciding to give up the plan to resume mining “because of the presence of small-scale miners.”
“As far as we are concerned, we welcome any investigation and we believe we are not liable for what happened,” said Mendoza.
Dulce said Benguet Corp. is trying to muddle the issue. “The landslide clearly came from the abandoned Antamok open-pit mine of Benguet Corp. It is revolting that they are still denying the contracting scheme with small-scale mining communities despite registration, which the MGB itself is boasting about as an innovative scheme,” Dulce lamented.
Dulce added that it is also clear that Benguet Corp. and the DENR blocked attempts by small-scale miners to establish a Minahang Bayan in the area, which would have legally allowed small-scale miners to self-regulate. “Their latest offer to donate 80 hectares precisely for this purpose is damage control,” said Dulce.
According to Dulce, as proof of his allegation, in the MGB directory of operating metallic mines in the Philippines, Benguet Corp.is listed with gold mine as its operation with Acupan Contract Mining Project with a patented mining claim denominated as PC-ACMP 002-CAR.
The Cordillera People’s Alliance, its affiliate and network member in the Cordillera region, also attested to this claim, Dulce said.
Photos in Cebu
Meanwhile, in Naga, Cebu, Dulce said aerial photos show that the debris came from the limestone deposits of Apo-Cemex quarry, where they were conducting earth-moving operations.
“They are denying this but residents are testifying in the news of witnessing active quarry operations. This calls for an investigation,” he said.
Dulce said the mining and quarrying firms and the government regulators are accountable if they have substandard risk mitigation programs.
“They cannot claim ‘force majeure’ on this one because long-term climate projections are warning us of increased rainfall and stronger or extreme weather events in the coming decades,” he said.
Image credits: AP/Bullit Marquez