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EMB justifies Lepanto permit to reopen exhaust tunnel

Amid community opposition

BAGUIO CITY (Oct. 22) — Despite sustained opposition from residents of Suyoc, Bulalacao, and Sapid in Mankayan against the Tohking exhaust tunnel reopening, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) this week stressed that the LCMCo’s (Lepanto Mining Consolidated Mining Company) Tohking exhaust tunnel can operate having passed “standards” prescribed by the Clean Air Act.

It can be recalled that the EMB granted LCMCo a temporary permit to operate the exhaust tunnel on September 6 despite protests from the said communities. The Mankayan municipal council furnished a copy of the communities’ petition paper to the EMB this month. EMB’s Pollution Control Division Rolando Reyes however clarified this week that the temporary permit was granted for “further evaluation” of the said structure.

However, affected residents assert that the EMB was already aware of their opposition as early as August 19 this year in a consultation with them.

“It is true that we were there (at the consultation with LCMCo and EMB), not to be convinced but to express and firmly voice out our collective and democratic right with regards our uncompromised stand and position…” the same petition stated.

Copies of the petition were given to the to the Mankayan municipal council and Benguet provincial board. The said petition gained support from other affected municipalities in the nearby Ilocos Sur province.

Just for show

In an interview with NORDIS, APIT TAKO (Alyansa Dagiti Pesante iti Taeng Kordilyera) Chairperson and Mankayan resident Julian Gayumba said that the emission test LCMCo mentioned in this week’s Kapihan is just for show. Gayumba added that the air was treated only for the emission test, because the mining giant is actually cutting down on its operational expenses.

Bulalacao residents claim that between 12 midnight to 2 a.m. the exhaust emits foul-smelling smoke.

In the Kapihan, LCMCo Project Development Manager Jake Foronda said that they (LCMCo) are not exempted from the legal processes required to operate. People’s organizations in Mankayan and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) contested this, saying that LCMCo did not even secure an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for its Victoria Gold operations. The Victoria Gold projects also lacks the necessary FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent), and LGU endorsement.

Gayumba added that the company also failed to secure an FPIC from the affected barangays by the exhaust tunnel reopening.

Doubtful petition

Gayumba expressed doubt on the legitimacy of a petition paper of supposedly signed by 1,500 underground mine workers supporting the re-opening of the Tohking exhaust for proper ventilation underground. During the dialogue with the Mankayan LGU and the affected barangays this month, residents claim that the said petition was not clearly explained to the miners. “Agpirma kayo nu kayat yu maanginaan”, was the simple explanation given to the miners, they said.

“Nu talaga koma dayta a petisyon, apay nga Lepanto ti nangipresentar idiay council haan diay unyon dagiti minero?” (If the petition was really authored by the miners, why didn’t the union present it to the municipal council?), Gayumba asked. LCMCo supposedly presented the petition to the local council.

Meanwhile, Mankayan officials have only gone as far as endorsing the communities’ petition to the EMB.

The exhaust tunnel started its operation in the last quarter of 1996 and was ordered closed by the EMB just the following year because it did not pass environmental standards. Foronda admitted that the exhaust tunnel then was “noisy, and the smoke emitted was dusty”. According to Nick Sab-it, a resident of Suyoc, # Kim Ngabit-Quitasol for NORDIS

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