Semirara: Freebies make workers dream

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE File photo shows the Semirara open-pit coal mine where five workers went missing and never found after a landslide in February 2013. A similar episode happened last week at the same site in the DMCI-owned Semirara Mining and Power Corp in Antique. RAFFY LERMA

Conclusion

SEMIRARA Mining provides free housing and up to 900 kilowatt-hour of electricity a month to its employees.

Employees’ children also enjoy free elementary and high school education at Divine Word School of Semirara Island which has about 900 students, according to Shiela Maniego, Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) corporate social responsibility officer.

Many employees said despite the accidents, they want to continue working in the mining firm for their family’s future.

Mining operations have also provided income to the host community, municipality and Antique province.

From 2000 to 2014, the company paid P1.3 billion in royalty to Barangay Semirara, where the Panian pit is located. Semirara is the biggest of three villages on the island which also includes Alegria and Tinogbok.

In 2014, the Caluya municipality received P290 million in royalty, according to Mayor Genevive Lim-Reyes.

The SMPC has also provided services and implemented infrastructure projects including the SMPC infirmary, food court, commercial center and park. It is constructing a modern sports complex with a rubberized track and field oval and a separate Olympic-size indoor swimming pool.

But some residents, especially of Tinogbok and Alegria villages, said years of mining operations had not significantly improved their lives and had even destroyed the island’s rich marine resources.

Environmental groups have repeatedly raised concern on the effects of decades of open-pit mining operations on the environment of Semirara which is considered rich in marine resources.

Company officials have denied the allegations and pointed out that reforestation and other rehabilitation measures are being implemented in anticipation of the day mining stops.

10,000 trees planted

Vicente Lantaca, head of SMPC’s reforestation program, said about 10,000 full-grown trees had been planted on a 150-hectare area around the 100-ha Unong pit in Barangay Tinogbok which was abandoned in 2000.

Ipil-ipil trees were planted to recondition the soil before native trees like molave, narra, bamboo and coconut are planted.

The pit has become a man-made lake that hosts eels, tilapia and other types of fish, according to Lantaca.

A dairy farm is also being put up at the abandoned pit, according to Leonardo Dalawampo, head of the company’s livestock unit.

Victor Consunji, SMPC president and chief operating officer, said mining operations at the Panian pit would continue for at least a year and a half before extraction is transferred to a new area on the island.

Reforestation has been started with the planting of agoho trees, a soil conditioner, in a 26-ha area.

Lantaca said they seek to cover 216 ha this year. After four years, native trees would be planted, said Lantaca.

A portion of the pit would be transformed into a man-made lake as a source of water for the community, according to Emmanuel Francisco, head of water services.