KALIKASAN PEOPLE'S NETWORK FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
26 Matulungin St. Central Dist., Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, 1100
Tel./Fax; +63 (2) 924-8756; E-mail: kalikasan.pne@gmail.com
Website: www.kalikasan.net
PRESS RELEASE
4 September 2012
Philex unable to ensure safety of its mines in Benguet, must be shut down - Defend Patrimony
Another discharge of mine tailings from Tailings Pond No. 3 (TP3) of Philex Mining Corporation's Padcal Mines was hit today by the Defend Patrimony Alliance as a living testament of the inability of mining transnational corporations to ensure the highest environmental safety standards.
Following an earlier breach in the tailings dam caused by enhanced monsoon rains last month, Philex Mining remains unable to stem the outflow of sediments from this latest leak in their facilities.
"If Philex, one of the top so-called responsible miners in the country, continues to experience engineering failures that release chemical wastes into the Balog Creek and Agno River, what about the rest of the industry? These are the same mining projects that were revalidated by Pres. Benigno Aquino III's new mining executive order," said Clemente Bautista, president of Kalikasan Partylist and convener of Defend Patrimony.
Aquino's new Executive Order 79 (EO 79) on mining validated all 32 existing mining projects and 659 approved mining applications and exploration permits. This includes all projects with track records of environmental crimes.
In particular,The Philex Mining Corporation has a history of tailings dam failures, including the overflowing of the silt dam in their Sibutad gold project in Sibutad, Zamboanga del Norte in 1998, a leak in the decant tower of a tailings pond in their Bulawan gold mine in Sipalay, Negros Occidental in 1995, and the collapse of a dam wall also in the Padcal mines way back in 1992.
"Philex must permanently shut down its mining operations in Benguet as it has exhibited all talk with no walk in complying with the highest environmental standards. It cannot cover up the fact that TP3 was the lone mine tailings dam operating in the mines and cannot have been clean from heavy metals and other toxic chemicals. Hydrologists in the San Roque Dam also witnessed muckish spilling in the dam turbines' outflow, further corroborating the contamination of the downstream rivers with mine wastes," said Bautista.
Defend Patrimony also reiterated the need to revoke EO 79, pointing out that these erring mining operations clearly did not subscribe to environmental standards mandated by law, but was nevertheless still permitted by EO 79.###
The Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment is a convener organization of the Defend Patrimony Alliance, a national network opposed to mining liberalization and plunder.
--
CLEMENTE BAUTISTA
National Coordinator
Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE)
No.26 Matulungin St. Bgy. Central, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines 1100
Tel. No. +63-2-9248756 Fax No. +63-2-9209099
Email: kalikasan.pne@gmail.com
Website: www.kalikasan.net
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