By FLORENCIO P. NARITO
http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2007/12/02/PROV20071202110406.html
LEGAZPI CITY – Monsignor Lucilo Quiambao, acting bishop of Legazpi, has sought the closure of Lafayette Philippines Inc. (LPI), a mining company, for allegedly causing the Oct. 28, 2007 "fish kill" in the island municipality of Rapu-rapu, Albay.
In a radio interview and in a pastoral letter, Quiambao said there had been no "fish kill" in the waters of Rapu-rapu before the Australian mining firm started its operation.
He laughed at a report that the fish had died of drowning. The report allegedly came from government sources.
"Dr. Luis Mendoza, Albay provincial health officer, said he is willing to testify that three children had been hospitalized in Rapu-rapu after eating shellfish believed to have been contaminated with poisonous chemicals from Lafayette," the bishop said.
Quiambao quoted Dr. Ermelita Regis of the Ateneo de Naga University, said to be an expert on mining, as saying that "if the rocks and soil are disturbed, the acid flows into the sea and kills the fish.
"Mining is second to machineries and factories as pollutants that affect the ozone layer," Quiambao said.
"The government should honestly accept the reality in Rapu-rapu and the truth should come out," he also said.
Some residents here, however, said that the good bishop and his anti-mine groups had already made their conclusions even before the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has come out with its findings on what really caused the "fish kill."
In an interview, Doctor Mendoza denied having linked Lafayette to the hospitalization of the three children in Rapu-rapu.
"Bishop Quiambao must have misquoted me because what I actually said was that the three children had been hospitalized after eating shellfish, but I did not say that the shellfish was contaminated with poisonous chemical from Lafayette," Mendoza said.
Reacting to the statements and pastoral letter of Bishop Quiambao, lawyer Bayani Agahin, LPI spokesman, said: "To settle the matter once and for all and to stop the anti-mining groups from using the Church, we have invited the good bishop and his panel of experts and even the anti-mining groups and the media to visit Rapu-rapu and the mining site of Lafayette. We have nothing to hide."
Agabin said that according to government authorities and experts as well as barangay officials, there was no "fish kill" as the project is far from the place where the alleged "fish kill" was found.
1. while dr. mendoza did deny linking lafayette to the food poisoning incidents in rapu-rapu for that is no longer within his technical competence, still the mere fact that the food poisoning incidents happened around the same time as the fish kill gives enough reason, at the very least, to conduct thorough investigation on their link to the mining operations in the island.
ReplyDelete2. who are mr. narito's 'independent-minded (as some versions of this story put it) residents' who chided the bishop for judging prematurely bfar even before bfar has released its official report? maybe his own pro-lafayette posse or maybe it is indication of narito's pro-lafayette bias. how can we not think so when bfar's ridiculous theories have been bandied about by its representatives in radio interviews. it was bfar's people themselves who posed that 'fish drowning for lack of oxygen' theory. last i heard, they blamed dynamite fishing. it seems to me, bfar blames everything but the obvious: lafayette's mining operations on the island. between these bfar radio statements and his anonymous residents' opinion which is more factual? did mr. narito think it his anonymous residents' opinion more newsworthy than bfar's ridiculous radio statements? consider too that bfar's radio statements have not yet been mentioned in any newspaper of local & national circulation.
3. agabin's posturings of commitment to truth and transparency should be judged by the way lafayette security personnel & their subsidized barangay security personnel harass researchers and residents even when they conduct research outside company property. our 'counter-invitation to dominguez, agabin, calleja and other lafayette minions, which also extends to pres. arroyo and sec. atienza: visit the people, talk with them, learn of their sufferings first-hand, if you really are serious about caring for the people of rapu-rapu. otherwise, stop your hypocritical stand of allegedly being concerned about their welfare. of course, the best thing to do is to close the mine in rapu-rapu. it is obviously not the solution to rapu-rapu's poverty probolem, it has turned out to be one of its major causes.