Philex claims to have plugged Benguet mine waste leak

Philex Mining Corporation on Wednesday said that it has completed plugging the leak in its Padcal Mine tailings pond that spilled wastewater into nearby streams and water channels. 

 

“Today we have successfully plugged our TP3’s (Tailings Pond No. 3) Tunnel A, and we are now focusing our resources on the making of a spillway to replace the penstock system for draining water from the pond,” Michael Toledo, Philex’s senior vice president for corporate affairs, said in an emailed statement.

 

Toledo explained that the five-by-five meter tunnel was plugged with cement and boulders, with the construction of a spillway set to start next week. Scheduled to be completed in six months, the spillway will divert the wastewater to a separate penstock. 

 

However, Mines and Geosciences Bureau director Leo Jasareno disputed Philex’s claim. 

 

He told GMA News Online via text that the Itogon, Benguet-based mine “has plugged the leak but the full completion of the plug is [still] ongoing.”

 

Amid heavy rains on August 1, the tailings pond spilled wastewater and sediments into the nearby Balog Creek and Agno River.  The mining firm immediately stopped its operations upon learning of the spillage. 

 

This August alone, about four leakage incidents have been reported. 

 

The Environment Department fined the Manny V. Pangilinan-led company P1 billion for the leakage and for allegedly violating the 1995 Mining Act. 

 

However, Philex has refused to pay the fines, with the Mines Bureau yet to consolidate its final report on the incident.

 

Meanwhile, Philex said that about 300 employee-volunteers have been helping out in the rehabilitation of the nearby contaminated water channels. 

 

“Philex Mining… has stepped up its cleanup drive on Balog Creek following the successful plugging of the sinkhole at TP3, with about 300 employee-volunteers shoveling sediment into sacks and hauling these sacks into temporary storage facility,” Toledo said. 

 

He added that more volunteers, including students, teachers, and families living around Padcal and other affected areas have expressed willingness to participate in the cleanup drive. 

 

Skittishness

 

But the environmental disaster at the Padcal mine has consequences that reach beyond its immediate area and even beyond the purview of Philex alone. 

 

Speaking before the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Wednesday, President Benigno Aquino III said the government is stepping back from issuing new mining permits until a new revenue-sharing scheme has been made law. 

 

On October 9, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje signed the revised implementing rules and regulations of Executive Order 79 or the new Philippine policy on mineral exploitation, which stated that no new mineral agreement shall be granted until the Congress passed a law with a higher revenue sharing agreement in favor of the govenrment. 

 

The national government’s skittishness on expanding and promoting the industry was partly due to the Padcal spillage as Aquino used it as a cautionary tale against issuing new mining licenses.

 

“For instance, one of the oldest firms, mining firms in the country, suffered multiple failures of their tailings pond and that redounds to quite a significant impact on the environment,” said Aquino.

 

“Would you want me to exercise my stewardship in a reckless manner and grant all of these mining agreements left and right while recognizing the fact that there are inadequacies in our current systems, procedures and rules and regulations and laws?” Aquino asked rhetorically.

 

“We would rather not continue the situation or also the risks until the remedies or the corrections in the mining laws will be corrected,” he said. — DVM, GMA News