SARA Letter to the South Korean Ambassador

Save Rapu-Rapu Alliance
c/o Aquinas University of Legazpi
Rawis, Legazpi City

March 3, 2008

The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea
Embassy of South Korea
10^th Floor The Pacific Star Building
Sen. Gil Puyat cor. Makati Avenue
Makati City , Philippines

Your Excellency:

We are an alliance formed to oppose the Lafayette mine in Rapu-Rapu in Albay Province . We were also organized to take measures to have the mine closed for good.

Our sources say that the investment arm of the South Korean government, Korean Resources, Inc. (Kores) is haggling with Lafayette Mining Limited of Australia for the sale of the mine. We do not look with favor on this development.

One, we feel being sold out. When the Americans came in 1898, Spain sold the Philippines to the US in the Treaty of Paris. The haggling between Lafayette and Kores over the Rapu-Rapu mine carried undertones of that even tin our history and is a grave insult to us. The patrimony of the people of the island and our province is being negotiated between two foreign interests and we are being treated as powerless onlookers.

Two, Lafayette caused so much environmental and economic damage to Rapu-Rapu in the form of five (5) fishkills for which the company must admit responsibility. Until now, there is no proof that Lafayette has deposited the P5 million required by the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 within one year after submission of the work program. Yet Mr. David Baker, Managing Director, for example, received over P40 million in salaries for the one-year period ending June 30, 2007 . This information is in their annual report. The fish catch in the village where the mine is located dropped by 93% according to a study by the Ibon Foundation, a research-oriented NGO. This is due to the unearthing of heavy metals from the mine and their dumping into the sea, aside from the cyanide spills. The sale to Kores is a Lafayette maneuver to evade responsibilities.

This deal between Lafayette and Kores should never be consummated. In the name of Filipino blood spilled by our PEFTOK in defense of Korean freedom during the war in the 1950’s we appeal to your government to discontinue the negotiations and instead withdraw the investments of Kores and LG International Corporation in the mine. These two already own 26% of the mine. Some of the residents of Rapu-Rapu who have fallen victim to Lafayette ’s greed are relatives of Korean War veterans. They defended your freedom then, please defend the livelihood of their loved ones now.

We look forward to your favorable response as an act of gratitude to those Filipinos who fought and died for South Korean freedom. Thank you.

For the Save Rapu-Rapu Alliance

Virgilio S. Perdigon, Jr.
Spokesperson

Encl.: Pastoral Bulletin of Msgr. Lucilo M. Quiambao, DD, Bishop of the Diocese of Legazpi