Napocor seeks P6.42B from Philex Mining for damage to San Roque reservoir

State-run National Power Corporation (Napocor or NPC) on Tuesday said it is demanding P6.42 billion from beleaguered Philex Mining Corp. for the mine waste dumped into the San Roque Multi-purpose Facility reservoir as a result of the tailings pond accident in the miner's Padcal copper-gold operations in Itogon, Benguet at the height of enhanced monsoon rains last August.

 

Napocor vice president and legal counsel Melchor Ridulme noted in a letter to Philex president Eulalio Austin that the build up of 13,513,507 cubic meters of mine waste in San Roque Multi-purpose Facility damaged the vegetation in  the San Roque Watershed Reservation.

 

The state-run company is also asking Philex for P6.27 million a year in compensation for opportunity loss while the mine tailings have not yet been removed from the reservoir, plus P1.04 million in damages to cover for vegetation lost and P500,000 in penalty.

 

"The National Power Corporation has complete jurisdiction, control and regulation over the San Roque Watershed Reservation," Ridulme said.

 

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, the miner said it has received the Napocor letter.

 

But Philex noted the state-run power company did not specify the legal and factual bases for its claims as well as reasonable detail to support its demands.

 

Philex senior vice president for Finance Renato Migriño noted the miner already asked Napocor to supply such information because the absence of any legal basis and reasonable supporting detail for its claims keeps Philex from “taking them seriously... It would be grossly irresponsible for the company to accede to the unsubstantiated demands by NPC.” 

 

Napocor, however, is giving Philex the option to clean up the mine waste in the reservoir if the miner is not able to pay for the alleged damage to the environment.

 

Last February, Philex paid the government P1.034 billion for the tailings pond accident which dumped 20.6 million metric tons of  mine waste into the environment including the Balog Creek and the Agno River which form part of the San Roque Dam Reservoir in Pangasinan.

 

"The dislodged volume of water could have converted an annual equivalent energy of 4,820,00 KWH which, according to our engineers accounts to P6.27 billion per year while the mine tailings are not yet removed from the reservoir," Ridulme noted.

 

"Also the friction and abrasion caused by the rampaging mine tailings scoured the thin soil layer and unconsolidated formation, thereby exposing the bedrocks and roots of the riparian vegetation," the Napocor official said.

 

"It has washed out and demolished the lower vegetation along the 2.5 kilometer stretch of Balog Creek and has effectively eliminated erosion control benefits provided by these vegetation—which is approximately 12.5 hectares of riparian vegetation... damaged," he said.

 

Up 52 trees along Balog Creek were either damaged or uprooted, Ridulme also noted.  — VS, GMA News