Philex refuses to pay Padcal mine waste leak fines

Philex Mining Corporation on Thursday refused to pay the P1.034 billion fine imposed by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau. 

 

Philex was penalized for environmental damages cause by its Benguet-based Padcal mine in Benguet which leaked waste into nearby water channels. Three other tailings leakage incidents were reported last month. 

 

“Our legal position is that we will not pay the penalties. We will make this official in our response letter that we intend to submit within the seven days we are given to comment on their [the MGB’s] investigation findings,” said company vice president for communications Mike Toledo on Thursday.

 

He explained that the company found it absurd that the government still imposed such penalties when it has already ruled in its investigation that the incident was a force majeure.

 

“They [MGB] have absolved us from the incident after finding out that our monitoring system was sound and reliable,” said Toledo, “We have no liability in as far as negligence is concerned.” 

 

According to the Mines Bureau investigation, heavy rainfall brought about by Typhoons Ferdie and Gener reached 331.80 millimeters on the day of the spill. The rainfall volume exceeded the previous Padcal rainfall record, which stood for 50-years, of 234.50 mm. for a single day.

 

Toledo added that payment of the fine would be an admission of negligence by Philex.

 

“We are not at fault here, but somebody has to clean up the mess. We are totally committed to continue the rehabilitation and clean up. If it will take more than six months, let it be the case. We are certainly not reopening the mines nor are we going to resume operations until we have successfully restored the affected site to its previous state,” the Philex official added. 

 

Apart from the P30 million losses in daily revenue, ongoing rehabilitation efforts are also costing Philex as much as P220 million a month. 

 

Meanwhile, MGB chief Leo Jasareno told GMA News Online in a phone interview that they will wait for Philex’s official response before commenting. “We are just observing due process. After our investigation, they have seven days to comment. We will consider then whether we should impose the penalty or not,” he explained. — DVM, GMA News