RAPU-RAPU, Albay—Fishermen, farmers and students who asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to terminate the mining operations of Australian-owned Lafayette Philippines Inc. (LPI) were disappointed by the court’s recent decision to dismiss the case.

“We are saddened by the decision but the fight continues, as our moves to protect our environment and the interest of the people of Rapu-Rapu do not end with the dismissal by the CA of our petition,” Quintin Emmanuel Calleja, who represented the petitioners, said here on Monday.

“We lost only on technicality not on the merit of our case, so we will continue with our fight until these destructive mining activities are brought to an end,” he added.

In a 21-page decision penned by Associate Justice Portia Aliño-Hormachuelos, the CA last week dismissed on technical grounds the petition filed by Calleja’s group.

Hormachuelos said in the decision the petitioners failed to exhaust “all administrative remedies” before bringing the case to the court.

“Petitioners, in bypassing the DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] secretary, prematurely invoked the court’s intervention, thus depriving this complaint of a cause of action,” the CA said in affirming the decision of the Regional Trial Court in Makati on September 6, 2006.

The CA agreed with the DENR that the petitioners should have first brought the complaint before the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB).

It noted that Republic Act 7942, or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, gives the DENR, through the PAB, the authority to hear pollution-related complaints against mining companies.

“But how can we seek administrative remedies from the DENR and PAB when both have already allowed the foreign-owned mining firm to continue with its operations,” Calleja said.

Since last April the mining operations here have been taken over by Korean transnational companies LG International and Korean Resources Inc. (Kores).

On July 21, 2001, Lafayette Philippines got an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the DENR for its Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic project here.

In November 2005 the Australian-owned company was found liable for the recurring spills of toxic chemicals in its mine tailings that killed the fish in the area, as well as destroyed the environment, displaced communities and loss of livelihood for local residents.

In January 2006 the government suspended Lafayette Philippines ’ operations on account of the toxic spills and created a Church-led fact-finding commission to investigate the effects of the mining operations here and in neighbouring Sorsogon City and the town of Prieto Diaz, Gubat, Barcelona and Bulusan in the province of Sorsogon.

The commission, headed by Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, then recommended for the government to cancel Lafayette Philippines ’ ECC and close its mine.

However, in June 2006, then-environment secretary Angelo Reyes allowed LPI to test-run its zinc-and-copper mine for 30 days so it could prove that the facility is in compliance with environmental standards.

In a resolution dated July 9, 2006, the DENR’s PAB ordered the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) to lift the suspension of the company’s chemical control order and registration certificates.

The order and the certificates allow the company use cyanide in its operations. The PAB also asked the EMB to give Lafayette Philippines a permit to discharges its wastewater.

The next day, Lafayette Philippines started its 30-day test-run.