http://www.malaya.com.ph/may22/news5.htm
MALACAÑANG said yesterday that it can strike a balance between development of mining resources and environmental protection even as it came under fresh attack from a militant organization which accused President Arroyo of using the Rapu-Rapu Fact-Finding Commission (RRFFC) to mollify the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
The Palace issued the statement shortly after rejecting the RRFFC’s recommendation to cancel the license of Lafayette Philippines Inc., owned by Australia’s Lafayette Mining Ltd., due to two mine tailings spills in Rapu-Rapu island off Sorsogon last year.
The commission also recommended a review of the liberalized mining law’s provisions on the ownership and management of mining firms and operations.
President Arroyo herself created the RRFFC, headed by Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, to look into the environmental impact, including reported fish kills, of Lafayette’s twin mine tailings spills.
The commission was created after the CBCP called for the repeal of the Mining Act in a pastoral letter issued last January. The CBCP said mining "destroys life."
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the use of legal, political and technological resources can enable government to achieve the goal to balance the creation of jobs in the mining sector with strict environmental protection measures.
"We should not adopt the defeatist attitude of an either-or situation," Bunye said.
He said what is important is to maximize the country’s natural resources to alleviate poverty while ensuring the well-being of the communities.
"The Arroyo administration is for the full implementation of the Mining Act but always under strict implementation of environmental safeguards. Social justice can go hand in hand with economic growth," he said.
Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya (Pa-malakaya) said Bunye’s assurance to foreign investors that the mining industry is still a government priority for development was tantamount to rejecting the RRFFC’s report.
"Malacañang merely exploited the Rapu-Rapu commission, (which) it created in vain try to please and calm down the protesting bishops of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the people staging a collective mass upheaval against Lafayette Mining. Now, Malacañang is singing the same pro-mining tune, despite the objective and collective report of the commission calling for Lafayette’s closure," Pama-lakaya chairman Fernando Hicap said.
The group urged Arroyo instead to file criminal and civil charges against Lafayette on the strength of the findings of the RRFFC.
"Malacañang should ready the charge sheet against Lafayette anytime this week. This is a make or break situation for Mrs. Arroyo and the rabid pro-mining group in the Palace," Hicap said.
Hicap said the government has to choose between the "interest of the people and the interest of its mining client in Australia."
"Will President Arroyo go against the anti-mining gospel of Bishop Arturo Bastes in favor of the multi-million peso commission of the Office of the President from Lafayette mining?" Hicap said.
"The ball is now in Malacañang’s court. The Filipino public is now waiting for the concrete and politically correct action that should be undertaken by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the name of public accountability and national interest," Hicap said.
Aside from recommending the scrapping of the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) issued to Lafayette for violating 11 of 29 conditions in its ECC, the Bastes Commission also proposed the creation of an independent mining authority that would monitor the effects of mining on people’s health and the environment.
Environmental group Green-peace said the RRFFC’s 169-page report upheld "environmental integrity and social justice over short-term economic benefits alleged by Australian firm Lafayette."
Greenpeace said they hope the President will listen to "the clamor of the people of Albay and Sorsogon to decide to keep the mines on Rapu-Rapu closed as the negative environmental, social and economic impacts to the communities far outweigh the alleged benefits."– Regina Bengco and Reinir Padua
