Mining firm ordered to compensate Leyte lake fishers for stocks lost in fish kill

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—The Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Eastern Visayas has directed a mining company to pay for the losses of owners of fish pens and cages affected by a fish kill in Lake Bito, MacArthur town, Leyte last weekend.

Roger De Dios, MGB regional director, said he has ordered the management of the Nicua Mining Corp. to compensate the affected fish pen and fish cages owners for the fish kill incident caused by an oil leak traced to the mining firm.

In an interview Tuesday, De Dios said he had talked with Alex de Leo, Nicua executive vice president, to inform him about his order.

“I could really say that the fish kill incident last Saturday was due to mining operations as there were traces of oil (and grease) seen at the Lake Bito,” De Dios said, adding that even the Nicua management had admitted this.

“That is why, I asked them to compensate all the affected fishermen of their losses due to the fish kill,” he told the Inquirer.

He also directed the management to institute safety measures to prevent any re-occurrence of the oil and grease spill into the lake.

“We want the company to ensure that it will never happen again,” De Dios said.

While De Dios could attribute the fish kill incident on May 12 to the oil spill from Nicua Mining Corp., he could not, however, say if the mining company also caused the first incident of fish kill last March 15.

De Dios said he would wait for the results of the investigation conducted by the Environmental Management Bureau, which took some water samples from Lake Bito to determine what caused the fish kill two months ago.

According to De Dios, they would consider as official only the EMB findings.

“The findings of the BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) will only serve as a reference. It is the findings of the EMB which we consider as official as it is the agency which determines if certain company has violated any of our environmental laws,” he pointed out.

The regional BFAR office has earlier said that based on their findings, the mining operations was one of the causes of the death of thousands of tilapia in Lake Bito.

Jesus Cabias, president of the Bito Lake Fisherfolk Association, welcomed the move of the EMB Eastern Visayas.

“I think it is a good news for us who are seeking justice due to this fish kill issue,” Cabias said in a text message.

However, he said he give a figure as to exactly how many tilapia died on Saturday. During the first incident, Cabias said the fish kill affected more than 22,000 kilograms of fish worth P1.7 million.