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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
THE Sandiganbayan First Division on Friday
ordered the arrest of Palawan Governor Joel T. Reyes and Provincial
Mining Regulatory Board technical secretariat head Andronico J.
Baguyo after the Office of the Ombudsman indicted them for graft
charges on February 4 due to alleged anomalies over a mining
contract in the province.
According to Sandiganbayan Sheriff Edgardo
Urieta, Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta issued the warrant of
arrest against the two defendants.
Peralta also approved the prosecution’s
recommendation setting each the bail bonds for Reyes and Baguyo at
P30,000. Both were ordered arrested despite a motion for
reconsideration they filed at the Office of the Ombudsman seeking
deferment of the filing of the case at the Sandiganbayan.
The two were accused of having illegally issued
a two-year small-scale mining permit to Platinum Group Metals
Corporation (PGMC) covering the period of April 6, 2006 to April 5,
2008.
The said warrant of arrest is one of two counts
of graft against the two defendants. The second graft charge remains
before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division also concerning an allegedly
illegal small-scale mining permit to another private firm, Olympic
Mines and Development Corporation.
Under the law, the defendants may face up to 10
years imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from public
office, if convicted.
It will be recalled that the Office of the
Ombudsman indicted the two officials due to the issuance of a permit
to the small-scale mining firm to extract more than 280,000 metric
tons of mineral ores worth more than P565 million, which is way
beyond the permitted annual production limit of 50,000 metric tons.
Then Acting Ombudsman Orlando C. Casimiro
approved the resolution dated January 28, 2008, finding sufficient
evidence to charge in court Reyes and Baguyo with two counts of
violation of Republic Act 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices
Act.
In the antecedents of the case, the case stemmed
from the complaint filed by a certain Fernando U. Santos of the
environmental group Katipunan para sa Kalikasan.
Santos accused Reyes Baguyo of issuing “ore
transport permits” in favor of PGMC authorizing the latter to
transport 282,729.35 metric tons of ore covering a period of two
years, despite the fact that the firm has already been issued a
permit for small-scale mining.
It was pointed out that aside from having
violated the 50,000 metric tons limitation under the small-scale
mining law, the government had been deprived of the much-needed
revenues from the sale of the said mineral ores estimated to be
worth more than P565 million. In the world market, the average price
per metric ton of mineral ore is $50.
Under PD 1899, or Establishing Small Scale
Mining as a new Dimension in Mineral Development, holders of
“Small Scale Mining Permits” are allowed to have an annual
production of not more than 50,000 metric tons.
The Anti-Graft body pointed out that both Reyes
and Baguyo not only allowed Platinum to extract more than the 50,000
metric tons of minerals, but also allowed the use of heavy equipment
in the mining operations of platinum.
Based on the probe made by the Mines and
Geosciences Bureau and the Environmental Management Bureau, it was
shown that “PGMC shipped out to Australia from June 2005 to June
26, 2006, a total of 308, 313.155 metric tons of Laterific Ore from
its two SSMPA, which is way above the annual allowable
extraction.”
The complainant, in its July 6, 2006 sworn
affidavit, alleged that while the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources has already cancelled the permit of PGMC in
January 2007, respondents have made no move to abate the illegal
extraction of ores in the province of Palawan.
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