Marinduque folk lose case vs mine firm

SAN PEDRO, Laguna—A regional trial court in Marinduque threw out a case filed against Placer Dome Inc., the mining company that a group of fishermen sued for the damages caused by 16 years of dumping tons of mine tailings into the  Calanacan Bay on Marinduque Island.

The dismissal order, penned by Judge Emmanuel Recalde of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 38 in Boac, came as negotiations for a settlement continued between the Marinduque provincial government and Barrick, the global gold-mining firm that absorbed the Vancouver-based Placer Dome in 2006. Placer Dome was the parent company of the now defunct Marcopper Mining Corp., which was responsible for the 1996 toxic mine tailing disaster on the island.

In the RTC order dated July 5, a copy of which was received only on Aug. 15 by Barrick’s counsel, the Sycip, Salazar, Hernandez and Gatmaitan law firm, the court granted Placer Dome’s motion to dismiss the class suit filed against them by the Calanacan Bay Fisherfolk Federation.

The fishermen filed the case on July 23, 2004, and claimed actual damage to people’s health and livelihood as results of the dumping of the company’s toxic wastes into the Calanacan waters.

“The court finds the contentions of Placer Dome as regards [the] lack of personal jurisdiction to be sound. There appears to be no dispute that Placer Dome [and  Barrick]  are   nonresident, foreign corporations,” read Recalde’s order, a copy of which was furnished the Inquirer on Thursday by a source who was privy to the case but who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the issue.

The court, however, denied the motion to dismiss the charges against Marcopper, which was a corespondent in the class suit. Marcopper had ceased operating after the 1996 mine disaster.

The Calanacan case was one of the seven damage claims and environmental complaints filed separately by Marinduque residents in Philippine courts against the mining corporation and its officials.

The rest of the cases, including a petition for the rehabilitation of the Calanacan Bay and the rivers of Boac and Mogpog filed in the Supreme Court, remained pending.

The provincial government, through Gov. Carmencita Reyes in October 2006, filed a $100-million law suit against Placer Dome in a district court in Nevada.

Marinduque’s counsel in the Nevada case, Walter Scott, said the ongoing negotiations with Barrick were “intended to bring some resolution to the situation, where [Marinduque] gets funds,” and put to rest an almost two-decade-old mining issue.

Scott, in an interview in Makati City last week, refused to disclose the targeted amount, which according to him would be part of the “compromise [that is] more than what they (the company) want to pay and less than that we want to get. It’s not a $100-million class suit.”