SC issues writ on Zambales mining
GIVING complaining residents their day in court, the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a writ of kalikasan in favor of a community in Sta. Cruz, Zambales province, who had accused five mining companies of polluting their municipality.
In an en banc resolution, the high court referred the case to the Court of Appeals to hold proceedings on the plea and determine whether the case merits the issuance of a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo), which would in effect suspend mining operations in Sta. Cruz.
Pending proceedings at the appellate court, mining operations may continue.
The petitioners sought to stop nickel ore mining in the northern Zambales town, claiming that it had destroyed the ecosystem in the neighboring communities of Candelaria town, also in Zambales, and Infanta town in Pangasinan province. They blamed mining companies for causing severe flooding in recent years.
‘Sufficient in form, substance’
Respondents were Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, regional environment officials and five mining firms—Benguet Corp. Nickel Mines Inc., Eramen Minerals Inc., LNL Archipelago Minerals Inc., Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. and Shangfil Mining and Trading Corp.
Theodore Te, spokesperson of the Supreme Court, said in a press briefing that the tribunal found the petition “sufficient in form and substance” to merit the issuance of the writ of kalikasan.
It directed the appellate court “to receive the appropriate pleadings and conduct hearings” and the respondents “to file their respective verified return,” or a pleading equivalent to a comment” within 10 days of receiving the writ.
The ruling came in the midst of the transition toward the administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, who had earlier expressed his fierce opposition to destructive mining operations, particularly in Mindanao.
‘Spoiling land’
In a speech at his victory party in Davao City on June 4, Duterte said the mining industry that had been “spoiling the land” and must “shape up,” and that pollutive mining operations must stop.
The Sta. Cruz residents accused the respondents of violating provisions of the Mining Act of 1995 for practices that cause, among others, “water, air and soil pollution, heavy laterite siltation of river systems, coasts, farmlands, fishponds and residential areas, forest denudation resulting in soil erosions, and exacerbated flood problems during typhoons and heavy rains.”
They also said the mining firms were responsible for the “destruction of irrigation systems” in Sta. Cruz, which severely reduced the palay production in a province considered the country’s rice granary.
In March, antimining advocates barricaded the national road in Zambales to stop mining firms from hauling nickel ore to port. Similar protest actions were held in previous months, which had led to several arrests.
In November, the regional Mines and Geosciences Bureau said it found “no signs of breach or collapse” in perimeter canals, ponds and silt traps in facilities of mining firms operating in town, which the locals had blamed for devastating floods that hit the area in the wake of Typhoon “Lando” (international name: Koppu) in October 2015.
