The Alyansa Tigil Mina Blog

August 13, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

LUCENA CITY—A license to cut trees in more than 36,000 hectares of land in Sierra Madre was approved by unidentified Palace officials after it had been cancelled earlier by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, according to environment groups fighting logging in the logged over mountain.

The Quezon Provincial Multisectoral Forest Protection Council (QMSFPC) and two other environment NGOs said a forestry contract of the Timberland Forest Products Inc. (TFPI), owned by Bulacan logger Wilson Ng, was reinstated on orders of Palace officials.

Johnny Glorioso, QMSFPC committee on information chair, said he was stunned when he got the information from DENR regional executive director Antonio Principe during the launching of Green Philippine Highways in Lucban town Thursday.

“The reinstatement has been recently approved with finality by Malacañang though TFPI has yet to start its operation due to some (unsubmitted) requirements,” Glorioso quoted Principe. (more…)

ARTICLE IN THE AGE NEWSPAPER

Today’s edition of The Age Newspaper included an article written by the mining ombudsman for Oxfam australia. Like a number of articles recently written by members of non-governement organizations opposed to mining in the Philippines, this article includes a number of false statements concerning the events and activities associated with Lafayette Mining Limited’s Rapu Rapu polymetallic mine located in the Philippines.

“click here to see full article”

The Philippine STAR 08/13/2006
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/BUSINESS200608134506.htm

Local farmers in the surrounding areas of a southern Palawan mine site operated by Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) are complaining of reduced palay output allegedly caused by heavy siltation of their rice fields.

Certifications issued by agricultural technologists from the municipality of Narra, Palawan indi-cated that farming communities in the area around PGMC’s mining operations have attributed the low palay yield to laterite siltation. Some farmers have reported a 30 to 50-percent drop in produc-tion since PGMC started extracting nickel ore and other minerals in the area two years ago. (more…)

At this week’s Diggers & Dealers annual conference of the nation’s leading mining companies, forum chairman Brian Hurley bashed the Government for not doing enough to rid the industry of time-consuming, resource-wasteful and downright frustrating “green tape” that hampered exploration and threatened Australia’s way of life.

Hurley’s argument misses the point, which is that no one should have to live with a mine that causes environmental damage, in Australia or abroad, as the following case illustrates.

Villagers on Rapu-Rapu Island in the Philippines became alarmed when dead fish began appearing in their waterways. Their alarm quickly turned to fear and panic when Lafayette, an Australian Mining Company operating on the island, confirmed toxic metals from its operation had contaminated the island’s rivers. (article here)

August 10, 2006

Environment and Health in Rapurapu not DENR’s main concern, testifies Commissioner Avila

On the third day of the hearing of the class suit for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Permanent Injunction against the Lafayette Philippines, Inc. and the Department for Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), yesterday, Vice Chairman of the defunct Rapurapu Fact Finding Commission (RFFC) Charlie Avila showed and testified that the main issue of the acid mine drainage (AMD) and integrity of the tailings dam were sidelined by concerns of the negative effects of a moratorium on foreign mining investors.

The class suit filed by the people of Rapurapu and other Albay towns, TV personalities, environmentalists, church people and other concerned Filipinos on July 20, 2006 is being heard at the sala of Judge Dina Teves at the Branch142 at the Makati Regional Trial Court.

Atty. Howard Calleja of the Calleja-Saulog Law Offices, counsel of the class suit said “The hearings, in spite the obvious attempts of the Respondents to delay and mislead the witness, were able to touch and raise substantive issues especially about the DENR’s decision to allow Lafayette to continue operating, albeit with a debatable “30-day test run.” (more…)

Lafayette was allowed to resume operations for month-long tests. It must now fork out more money to the government. (Newsbreak, August 14, 2006)

By Roel Landingin

THANKS TO Lafayette Mining Ltd., Barangays Malobago and Pagcolbon on Rapu-Rapu Island, where the Australian mining firm digs for gold, copper and other precious metals, now have 26 beauty salon professionals—roughly one for every 10 adult residents in the two farming villages.

The beauty parlours, which were financed by a P30,000 contribution from Lafayette, are exam-ples of the mining company’s direct economic assistance to residents of areas affected by its open pit mining and ore processing operations. It also gave P75,000 to 20 backyard pig raisers, P12,000 to 56 home-based soap makers, and P20,000 to a hammock maker.

Small-scale livelihood projects may have helped Lafayette win some community and government support for the mining venture when it began developing the mine site a few years ago. But after October, when the mining company accidentally released cyanide-contaminated waste water into nearby rivers and coastal waters, the livelihood projects suddenly looked paltry. Pressure is mounting on Lafayette and the mining industry to pay up much more. (more…)

BusinessWorld
BY BEVERLY T. NATIVIDAD, Reporter

The test-run of the mining facilities of the Australian-owned mining firm Lafayette Philippines, Inc. in Albay is set to extend for at least another two weeks, despite expectations of a wrap-up within the week.

Lafayette Senior Vice- President for legal Bayani Agabin told BusinessWorld that they have just completed the second stage of the test run of the Rapu - Rapu Polymetallic Project, and is still currently awaiting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) green light to continue to the third stage.

“We’ve completed the second stage of the test run last July 26. Now we are waiting approval to proceed to the third. We have already submitted all the required reports to the DENR,” said Mr. Agabin. (more…)

(London Saturday, 12 August 2006)

British MP “enormously shocked” by mining operations in Philippines.

Clare Short MP has vowed to take a stand against destructive mining practices following a fact-finding trip to the Philippines.

The MP for Birmingham Ladywood said she was shocked and appalled by the level of environmental, social and cultural damage mining companies have caused in the country.

Clare Short said: “I have never seen anything so systematically destructive as the mining programme in the Philippines. The environmental effects are catastrophic as are the effects on people’s livelihoods.”

Short met with communities affected by mining, particularly gold mining, and heard how they had been moved off their lands and indigenous peoples’ legal right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) ignored. (more…)