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By Lisa Ito
More than a decade has passed
since a tunnel in Marcopper Mining Corp.’s Tapian Pit collapsed on
March 24, 1996, spilling 1.6 million cubic meters of mine tailings
and causing the biologic death of the Boac River, the biggest and
longest waterway on Marinduque island, Philippines.
Yet, according to environmental
advocates and local residents, environmental justice,
rehabilitation, and compensation for the disaster remain elusive for
the residents of Marinduque.
Mining companies Marcopper and
Placer Dome Inc. are being held liable by local residents for the
disaster. They continue to evade the protracted court battle and
have not even settled their unpaid property taxes to the local
government up to now, nongovernment organization Marinduque
Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC) said.
Legal case drags on
Eleven years have passed after
the Boac River disaster, yet the court battle to hold the mining
firm liable remains in its first stages, Myke R. Magalang, MACEC
executive secretary, said.
Residents have filed criminal
cases in the Philippines and abroad to determine the liabilities of
Marcopper Mining Corp. and Placer Dome Inc. (bought by Barrick Gold
in 2006) over the disasters their 30-year mining operations have
caused the people and environment in Marinduque.
These include criminal cases
filed separately by the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources against John Eric Loney, an Australian who was the
president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Marcopper; Steven
Paul Reid, also an Australian national and resident manager of the
Marcopper Tapian Office; and Pedro Hernandez, a Filipino who served
as senior manager for maintenance.
They have been charged with
violation of the Philippine Water Code, the Antipollution Law, the
Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and the Revised Penal Code.
On February 10, 2006, the
Philippine Supreme Court’s (SC) Third Division gave the green
light for the criminal prosecution of Marcopper’s executives. In a
17-page decision, Justice Antonio Carpio rejected the appeal filed
by Loney, Reid and Hernandez seeking to quash the complaints filed
against them by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Despite the SC decision, the
prosecution has plodded at a snail’s pace, Magalang said.
The only progress in the case was
on November 22, 2006, when the Provincial Prosecutor filed a
manifestation and motion to set cases for hearing and only after
MACEC presented a downloaded computer file of the SC decision, he
added.
Magalang assailed “the extreme
inefficiency of the justice system because it is unimaginable why
until now the prosecution, and even the Municipal Trial Court of
Boac, were not officially furnished with copies of the Supreme Court
Decision.”
Trixie Concepcion, spokesperson
of the nationwide Defend Patrimony alliance, also decried the delay
in the prosecution.
“It’s a grave insult to the
already disillusioned and disheartened people of Marinduque who
are continuously suffering from the long-term effects of heavy metal
poisoning from the mine spill. The DOJ should finally direct the
panel of prosecutors to prioritize this case of the Filipino people
against the foreign nationals and officers of the multinational
mining company which plundered our national patrimony,” Concepcion
said.
Magalang also called on the SC to
“officially transmit copy of its February 2006 decision for the
Municipal Trial Court of Boac to expedite the hearing of the
cases.”
Unpaid property taxes
In addition to the protracted
court case, Magalang of MACEC also disclosed that Marcopper Mining
Corp. and Placer Dome, Inc. have yet to pay a total of more than P1
billion (P1,048,624,496.80) worth of real-property taxes to the
province of Marinduque and the municipalities of Boac, Mogpog, Santa
Cruz and Torrijos as of the second quarter of 2006.
According to the records of the
Provincial Treasurer of Marinduque officially obtained by MACEC,
Marcopper has standing tax debts of more than a billion pesos
(P1,013,101,529.51) in the municipality of Santa Cruz for the
period 1980 to second quarter 2006. Further, it owes more than P11
million (P11,164,686.80) to the town of Torrijos for the period 1983
up to second quarter of 1996; more than P1 million (P1,194,977.89)
to the town of Mogpog for the period 1999 to second quarter 2006;
and, more than P23 million (P23,163,602.60) to the town of Boac
for the period 1985 to second quarter 2006.
“This is an extremely
insensitive for a company which amassed billions of dollars in
profit and claims to be a good corporate citizen of the country but
is neglecting its primary duty to pay legitimate taxes to the
government,” Magalang said.
Magalang urged the national
government to “strongly pursue and compel these erring companies
to settle their unpaid property taxes to the local government.”
According to Magalang,
Marcopper’s debt remains unpaid even after the provincial
government of Marinduque sought the intervention of DENR’s Legal
Department on May 3, 2006.
Concepcion of Defend Patrimony
criticized the national government for “its laxity in compelling
Marcopper to settle its outstanding taxes” in Marinduque.
“The money could have been used
by Marinduque for the medical needs of the victims of the mining
disasters, providing the basic infrastructure and books for the
various schools in the province, provision of alternative livelihood
opportunities for the displaced mine workers, and other projects and
programs for the sustainable development of the province,”
Concepcion said.
“This only indicates
irresponsibility on the part of the national government and the
mining company involved. Such irresponsibility remains to be
corrected by current policies and laws, as the mine tailings spill
by Lafayette Mining in Albay in October 2005 shows,” Concepcion
said.
Despite the delays in the
administration and pursuit of environmental and economic justice,
Concepcion stressed, Marinduque and its sustained struggle for
justice should be emulated by other mining-affected provinces which
are struggling against the intensified incursions of foreign mining
giants.
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