Philippines: Camp-out vs Arroyo’s flagship mining project kicks off

Lafayette mine should be closed, affected communities compensated – Kalikasan PNE

Amidst reports of financial woes plaguing the Arroyo administration’s flagship mining project in Rapu-Rapu island, local residents are launching a week-long rally and camp-out in front of the Albay Provincial Capitol to call for the permanent closure of Australian-owned Lafayette Mining Limited’s open-pit mine and compensation for mining-affected communities, green watchdog Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) announced today.

Hundreds of residents are expected to join the week-long Kampong Bayan (People’s Camp) organized in front of the Albay Capitol from December 5 to 12, 2007, Arieto Radores, Spokesperson of local grassroots organization Ugnayan ng Mamamayan Laban sa Pagmimina at Kumbersyong Agraryo-Bikol chapter (Umalpas Ka-Bicol chapter), said.

The Kampong Bayan is jointly organized by Umalpas Ka-Bikol and Sagip Isla Sagip Kapwa (SISK), an island-wide environmental organization of Rapu-Rapu residents.

“Since 2005, Rapu-Rapu residents have suffered from the adverse environmental impacts caused by the mine and have yet to benefit from the dubious economic gains of the mining activities. Enough damage has been incurred by Lafayette. The mining project of Lafayette in Rapu-Rapu should be closed down for good, the affected communities be given financial compensation, and the affected sites be rehabilitated,” SISK Spokesperson and Rapu-Rapu elder Antonio Casitas said.

“We are challenging the local government units of Rapu-Rapu and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) to issue a resolution in favor of Lafayette’s closure and payment of damages to mining-affected communities,” Radores said.

The Kampong Bayan will officially start with a rally in front of the Albay Capital building today, December 5, and will feature a non-stop program filled with daily prayer rallies, solidarity speeches, discussions, workshops, dialogues, and cultural presentations up to December 12, Radores said. No less than five hundred people will be manning the front lines at any given time.

Manila-based environmentalists urged the public to support the Kampong Bayan in Bicol.

“We exhort all defenders of the environment and national patrimony to extend material, financial, and moral support for the Kampong Bayan initiated by our brothers and sisters in Albay against Lafayette Mining Limited,” Clemente Bautista Jr., National Coordinator for Kalikasan PNE said.

“Lafayette is going down fast. It is now in the red and in dire financial straits after incurring one environmental blooper after another since it started operating. In the light of successive fish kills since 2005 that devastated the lives of thousands of fisher folk, Lafayette can not claim to have a significant positive impact on the island’s local fishing-based economy. The national and local governments should now move to close Lafayette down and compel the company to embark on the process of compensation and rehabilitation for the affected communities and residents,” Bautista said.

Lafayette Mining Limited yesterday announced that it would be indefinitely extending the trading halt on its shares in the Australian Stock Exchange soon after a major investor–expected to bail the company out of its ballooning debt obligations–pulled out of the project early this week.

“The financial losses of Lafayette’s foreign shareholders pale in comparison to the losses sustained by thousands of residents in Rapu-Rapu. Around 16,500 of Rapu-Rapu’s 19,000 fisherfolk residents were affected in terms of losses in livelihood,” Casitas said.

“The Arroyo government and the municipal government are responsible for the entry of Lafayette mining operation in our communities. They should be held responsible and accountable along with Lafayette for the recent fish kill that happened in our island. This fish kill has devastative impacts on the people of Rapu-Rapu, who are reliant on the sea and its bounty for daily sustenance,” Casitas said.

Bautista urged Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, and local government officials to uphold the recommendations of the Rapu-Rapu Fact-Finding Commission (RRFFC) headed by Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes.

The RRFFC in its report dated May 2006 recommended that the Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) of Lafayette’s local partners in the mine project be cancelled on the grounds that 11 out of 29 conditionalities and subconditionalities in the ECC have been violated, that the cumulative effects of the mining operations on human health, environment, and ecology have not been properly addressed, that social responsibility and acceptability issues still persist, and poor capability of the DENR, MRFC, and MMT to manage and monitor the mining operations of Lafayette. It also recommended that the mining in Rapu-Rapu be subjected to a moratorium and that existing Mineral Production and Sharing Agreements (MPSAs) in the island be suspended pending scientific and expert’s favorable resolution on the issue of ecological conservation and the acid mine drainage (AMD) problem.

“We challenge the municipal and local governments to heed the clamor of the people and the recommendations of the Presidential RRFFC results, not the demands of Lafayette and its number one endorser Pres. Arroyo,” Bautista said.

This is the second Kampong Bayan and fourth massive protest rally to be held by Rapu-Rapu residents after a fish kill hit at least five barangays after heavy rains on October 28, 2007. Despite denials from Lafayette, the DENR and the BFAR, the fish kill is widely believed to have been related to the mine operations. Lafayette previously sustained two mine tailing incidents on October 11 and 31 in 2005, causing fish kills in nearby waters and affecting thousands of fisherfolk.

Residents and environmental groups have before resorted to various forms of opposition to the mine, including petition and resolution signing campaigns, pickets, sectoral dialogues, rallies, lobbying before financial stakeholders, and filing of court cases, Bautista said. ###

References:
Mr. Clemente Bautista, Jr.
National Coordinator, Kalikasan-PNE (0922-844-9787 or through 0917-817-9955)
Mr. Antonio Casitas
Spokesperson, Sagip Isla Sagip Kapwa, Rapu-Rapu (0910-2748844)
Mr. Arieto Radores
Spokesperson, Ugnayan ng Mamamayan Laban sa Pagmimina at Kumbersyong Agraryo-Bikol chapter (Umalpas Ka-Bicol chapter) (0910-814-5040)

–
CLEMENTE BAUTISTA
National Coordinator
Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE)
No.26 Matulungin St. Bgy, Central, Quezon City, Philippines 1100
Tel. No. +63-2-9248756 Fax No. +63-2-9209099
Email: kalikasan.pne@gmail.com
Website: www.kalikasan.org

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