Top mine firm says no worry as it retires 448 workers

BAGUIO CITY—Gold producer Philex Mining Corp. has retired 448 managers and workers at its Padcal mine, but the company said it was part of a manpower “right-sizing” program and not due to plunging world metals prices.

Some Cordillera mines confirmed at a news conference last week that world metals prices had been falling, troubling some of their investors.

Like oil, metals like gold had traded at lower prices in the past months due to low demand.

But lawyer Eduardo Aratas, Padcal legal division manager, said the closure or suspension of Padcal, Philex’s pioneer mine in Benguet province, was not an option arising from the metals price situation.

Aratas said the 448 employees availed themselves of the company’s early retirement offer that was part of the company’s long-term cost-cutting measure.

“The company has embarked on a manpower right-sizing program to determine the correct manpower complement we need as we prepare for the mine life’s end in 2020,” he said.

Padcal, the country’s first underground block cave operation in 1958, straddles the Benguet towns of Itogon and Tuba. It was preparing for decommissioning in 2011, but improved metals prices allowed Philex to extend its mine life to 2020, according to records.

“If [an ongoing manpower review] results in the need for additional requirements, then we will hire workers again. Otherwise, we will make do with [the manpower] we have,” Aratas said.

He said Philex was also studying a merger of departments and programs.

He said the early retirees benefited from a double retirement compensation package.

Philex has not adjusted Padcal’s operational life, Fay Apil, Cordillera director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said, adding that many mines economize by rationalizing its work force.

Despite the decommissioning of Padcal in 2020, Philex has also been exploring areas within its mine claims, Apil said.

According to the Philex website, “exploration activities in Padcal and its vicinity were pursued in three areas in 2011: the Sto. Tomas II ore body, which is below the 773-meter level, Bumolo, and in Southwest prospects.”

Some Philex workers said the early retirement program might  have violated their collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Herman Pingot, 52, an employee, said the company should have presented these manpower programs to workers in a general assembly  as mandated by their CBA. Kimberlie Quitasol, Inquirer Northern Luzon