Inquirer
13 November 2006
Published on page A21 of the November 13, 2006
issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
BOAC, MARINDUQUE -- A provincial
board member here has expressed apprehension over a report of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources that the mine structures and waste facilities
of Marcopper Mining Corp. in Sta. Cruz town had no cracks or seepages.
Alan Nepomuceno, board committee on public order and safety chair, said provincial
leaders and environmental authorities should not feel complacent after the press
statement made by DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes that the mining company's inactive
dams were safe after the province was hit by an earthquake.
"It is
true that Secretary Reyes had sent experts from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau
to inspect the dams after the quake and they said that there was nothing to worry
about," said Nepomuceno.
"However, we cannot ignore the findings
of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), to which we paid P20 million to
conduct a 2-year study on the dams, identifying the Makulapnit Dam of Marcopper
to be in imminent danger of collapsing," he added.
Engineers from
the mining company also admitted in a special provincial board session last March
that they had monitored leaks at the structures of the Makulapnit Dam, he said.
Prior to Reyes' press statement, the entire provincial board and the vice governor
of this province met with Reyes and other DENR officials on Nov. 7 to discuss
the integrity of the Marcopper dams and their immediate repair to prevent a repeat
of the mine spill tragedy of 1996 in Boac River.
Nepomuceno said they agreed
that the repair of the dams would be funded by the $12 million escrow deposited
by the mining company in a bank in Hong Kong known only to select government and
Marcopper officials.
The escrow was initially intended for the cleanup
of the Boac River.
Nepomuceno said Reyes told them that the amount was
still intact as assured by a former Placer Dome executive who is now working for
an international non-government organization that is willing to undertake repairs
of the Legacy Mines in the Philippines, including the Marcopper dams.
He
failed to identify the former executive and the international NGO.
Placer
Dome used to own and operate Marcopper.
Government authorities, meanwhile,
have to work double time because DENR engineer Mike Cabalda said during the meeting
that the escrow fund is about to expire next year.
"We have to find
ways to have it released as soon as possible," Nepomuceno added.
Reyes
then instructed DENR Undersecretary Horacio Ramos that if the escrow fund is released
for the repairs of the dams, the DENR will ban Canadian mining operations in the
country until the Marcopper dams are repaired.
In a related development,
Nepomuceno said the provincial government of Marinduque was planning to file a
separate case against Placer Dome in Canada, in behalf of the victims of the Marcopper
tragedy.
He said the jurisdictional issue of the case that they filed against
Placer Dome in Nevada, USA had not yet been decided by the court.
"We
are planning to file a separate case against them in Canada because if Marinduque
loses the jurisdictional issue in Nevada, we will have a fallback," he said.
It will be recalled that the provincial government of Marinduque filed a $200-million
lawsuit earlier this year against Placer Dome Inc. at the US Federal Court in
Nevada to hold the mining company accountable for the damages made in the province
and obtain just compensation for the Marinduqueños.
Gerald Gene
Querubin, Inquirer Southern Luzon
