Philippines: Arroyo’s flagship mining project goes bankrupt
Lafayette declares ‘voluntary administration’, banks to take over
Defend Patrimony, the broadest alliance against mining liberalization in the Philippines, today welcomed news of financial bankruptcy hitting the first foreign-owned mining project under the Arroyo administration in Rapu-Rapu island, Albay.
After months of being in the red, Lafayette Mining Limited, the Australian owner of Lafayette Philippines Inc. which operates the Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Mining Project in Albay, today declared in a press release that they will be undergoing ‘voluntary administration’, allowing it to seek recapitalization or to sell off its mining operations in the Philippines. Lafayette’s Board of Directors today transferred control of the company’s business, property, and affairs to Australia-based administrator Ferrier Hodgson under Rod Sutton and Peter McCluskey.
” We welcome the news of Lafayette’s bankruptcy as a partial but strategic victory in our campaign against mining plunder in Rapu-Rapu. This is a step towards victory for the people of Rapu-Rapu and their supporters who have tirelessly united and campaigned for the mine’s closure since 2001,” Clemente Bautista Jr., Convenor of Defend Patrimony alliance, said in a statement.
” Voluntary administration simply means that Lafayette has gone bankrupt and that the banks are now taking over their operations. Lafayette’s mine proved to be a financial, environmental, and social disaster: it should be closed for good, subjected to rehabilitation, and the local communities compensated for the damage brought by the mine,” Bautista said.
” The bankruptcy of the Arroyo administration’s flagship mining project shows how defective the government’s current mining liberalization program is. No one except for Lafayette’s owners and foreign investors has benefited in the course of the mining operations. The project up to now has failed to produce substantial benefits for the local communities, the local government, and even the national government yet Pres. Arroyo continued to support Lafayette,” Baustista said.
Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, for his part, also expressed his jubilation and vindication over this latest development. “This is a very welcome Christmas gift to all Bicolanos. This will surely boost the morale of many other communities throughout the country that are fighting for people’s rights, national patrimony, and environmental protection,” Bishop Bastes said.
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