Lafayette/TVI Pacific - Lafayette test run to exceed 30 days

Greenpeace ship arrives in RP to boost oceans campaign

A SHIP of the international environmental group Greenpeace arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday to highlight the organization’s campaigns to save the country’s marine ecosystem, particularly polluted Manila Bay and the seas of the Bicol region.

The MY Esperanza, on its maiden voyage to the country, will also highlight a successful community-managed marine reserve on Apo Island in Negros Oriental and “promote it as a model for marine reserves worldwide,” a Greenpeace statement said.

The Esperanza is also a part of the Guimaras clean up as well as a the lead ship in a flotilla protest versus Lafayette.

Lafayette was allowed to resume operations for month-long tests. It must now fork out more money to the government.

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 examples 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.

Greenpeace, which compiled the examples of livelihood projects in a report, said the potential financial gains to surrounding communities were outweighed by the potential and opportunity costs of a disaster or ecological damage resulting from the mining project. Generous fiscal incentives granted to Lafayette diminished potential tax revenues to local government units and the national government, it said.

Greenpeace launches cyber-protest vs Lafayette Mining

IN a bid to prevent controversial Lafayette Mining from resuming full operations on Rapu-Rapu Island in Albay province, the international environmental group Greenpeace launched on Friday an online “virtual march” against the Australian-owned firm.

The online protest involves a cyber-petition and a “picture protest page” on which photographs of anti-mining activists holding “No” signs are posted.

Thus far, around a hundred pictures are on the page.

Environmental activists are invited to log on to www.greenpeace.org.ph and click on a banner that says, “Stop the Mine, Save our Seas.”