‘Blame yourself!’ Group demands Philex to pay fine for mine waste leak

Philex mining must pay heavy fines for causing the country’s biggest mining disaster and must stop tossing the blame to other forces but themselves, said Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) confirmed in a report that the Philex mine spill has surged more volume of mine waste than the Marcopper tragedy in Marinduque in 1996.

On November 12, 2012, the group sent an appeal letter to Members of the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) demanding for an immediate release of the DENR report on the incident.

ATM also demanded for an access to Philex Environmental Compliance Certificate specifically for its Padcal mine project. “We believe it is critical that the ECC should be made publicly available in order to have the complete picture on what environmental mitigation measures were adequately or inadequately done by Philex,” ATM insisted in the letter.

“This incidence only shows that ‘responsible mining’ that the mining industry had been bragging about is not happening in the country at this time,” said Jaybee Garganera, national coordinator of ATM.

“This also confirms our call for a moratorium on mining in the country. We have been confronted by many problems and disasters related to mining. And we should not continue until we have a new system in place and a rationalized policy that will prevent cases such as this,” Garganera added.

In the same letter, ATM also urged the government to conduct a valuation study of the natural resources that were impacted by the spill, including the downstream areas.

Alyansa Tigil Mina is an alliance of mining-affected communities and their support groups of NGOs/POs and other civil society organizations who are opposing the aggressive promotion of large-scale mining in the Philippines. The alliance is currently pushing for a moratorium on mining, revocation of Executive Order 270-A, repeal of the Mining Act of 1995 and passage of the AMMB. (30)

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Contact details:
Jaybee Garganera, ATM National Coordinator – 09277617602
Edel S. Garingan – ATM media and communication officer, 09228918972

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