The Recent Action of EMB V to Curb Coal Mining in Rapu-Rapu

The recent action of EMB V’s new head, Director Fernando P. Quililan, to give attention to coal mining in Rapu-Rapu is welcome news. We in SARA are not in favor of any form of mining that destroys the natural environment. We also decry coal mining per se when its product will be used as fuel considering that coal burning is a major source of carbon dioxide that causes global warming. (Coal can be put to environment-friendly use as filter for cleaning polluted water.)

Coal mining in Rapu-Rapu, nevertheless, pales in comparison to gold, silver, copper and zinc mining being done in the island by RRMI and RRPI. While the former has not caused any fishkill, for example, since way back in the past, the latter has caused five major fishkills since 2005 when it went into full operation. Daily, the residents of the island see dead fish floating in the sea. This is the reason why there is no more major fishkill. There are not that many fish to kill anymore. Instead, fishermen are complaining of a severe drop in fish catch from 20 bañeras of “bolinao” before 2005 to 1 bañera today. Coal mining in Rapu-Rapu has been going on for years but only when Lafayette started its activities did the problems of fishermen and farmers begin.

The difference is like that between the bite of an ant and that of a poisonous cobra. EMB V should put proper perspective in its action. If it is alarmed with coal mining in Rapu-Rapu, it should cry extreme danger with gold, silver, copper and zinc mining. As the Bible says in Matthew 7:3: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Certainly, EMB V can stop coal mining in Rapu-Rapu but first it must stop the bigger and more disastrous mine of RRMI and RRPI. Anything short of that is sheer hypocrisy!

Wikileaks and Rapu-Rapu Mining

Wikileaks has captured world attention. Among the reactions it has so far generated is an article by Margaret Heffernan titled Bank of America is Not the Only Company that Should Fear Wikileaks. An excerpt from the article reads:

Most companies worldwide have skeletons in their closets that they hope no one will ever see - including themselves. That they’d prefer to look away is institutionalized willful blindness, and it’s reaching epidemic proportions.

Willful blindness started life as a legal concept; it holds that when there are things you could know and should know, but manage not to know, you’re still responsible. The idea was central to the conviction of Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay in the Enron trial. But it’s more than just a legal idea: it’s the bad habit that lies at the heart of far too many businesses.

The full text can be read in this site:http://www.bnet.com/blog/business-strategy/bank-of-america-is-not-the-only-company-that-should-fear-wikileaks/957?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

We believe there is WILLFUL BLINDNESS going on regarding the Rapu-Rapu mine of LG, Kores and MSC. Those working in and for these companies plus those in the Philippine government who have adopted willful blindness as a course of action should take heed because one day the truth will have its day in court. The mine will soon close and those responsible will have to reckon with the judgment of the people and history.

Yeonpeong and Rapu-Rapu Islands

By now, the South Korean executives of LG and Kores should know how it feels to have one’s island destroyed. Or do they care? On November 23, North Korea destroyed Yeonpeong Island after South Korea provoked the former with a military exercise. It is the height of absurdity for South Korea to complain about the North’s attack while it was the South that risked trouble by displaying its war arsenal to the enemy. It is only proper for the South Korean Defense Minister to resign because he approved of the war exercise conducted by his country. Nobody lights a match within 50 feet of a gasoline lorry or inside a warehouse of dynamites. You do not whet your knife before the very eyes of a neighbor with whom you have a quarrel. You do that and you only have yourself to blame.

LG and Kores own a total of 70% of Korea Malaysia Philippines Resources Inc. (the renamed Lafayette Philippines Inc.), the same company that owns in turn RRMI and RRPI. KMPRI is destroying Rapu-Rapu Island. Our boycott campaign of LG products is therefore an appropriate reply.

If war breaks out again in Korea, Filipinos should not help the South. We helped them in the 1950s but look at their act of gratitude – they are destroying our Rapu-Rapu Island, our version of Yeonpeong. These South Korean executives should pack up, close the mine, clean the contamination and enlist in their army to face Kim Jong Il.

RRMI and RRPI Employment of CAFGUs to Guard Creeks Continues

Reports from Rapu-Rapu Island by residents confirm the continued presence of members of the paramilitary Citizen Armed Forces for Geographical Units (CAFGU) in the mine site and creeks. The employment of CAFGUs was legalized through an executive order during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, author of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 when she was a senator. The public is not allowed to freely go to the creeks. Members of the NGO Sagip Isla Sagip Kapwa report that whenever outsiders approach the creeks, warning shots are fired.

Violent incidents involving CAFGUs include the arrest on July 26, 2006 of a Greenpeace activist, David Andrade who was merely gathering soil and water samples in Mirikpitik Creek. On November 16, 2008, Jessie Ecleo was found dead in Sitio Mirikpitik, Barangay Pagcolbon. The suspect, CAFGU Daniel Sumbilon Bongca of San Pablo, Zamboanga del Sur, admitted that he hit the victim with a lead pipe at the head causing instant death. (See Rapu-Rapu police blotter) Bongca surrendered to the police soon after the incident but today he is at large.

RRMI and RRPI claim that they employ guards in the creeks to prevent anti-mining activists from pouring poison into them. This is a lame excuse because those guards are not able to prevent contamination of the creeks. It is like preventing people from entering a leprosarium not to contain the disease and protect the public but to prevent tinea flava from entering the compound. If the CAFGU presence is intended to preserve the clean condition of the creeks, then why are mining executives unwilling to dip into the water there, even with armed guards? It is obvious that the guards have kept away the activists but not the contamination understandably since the latter comes from the mine site. The truth is that those CAFGUs are there to prevent activists from taking water and soil samples which can be used as evidence in a fair court of law.

The CAFGUs also prevent environmentalists from taking still photos and videos of the latest condition of the creeks. If there is nothing to hide and instead there is evidence of clean operations to show, then why should the public be prevented from viewing the creeks? Opening the creeks to public scrutiny will finally silence the opposition but only if they are clean. Since they are not, the option of RRMI and RRPI is to seal the creeks off.

RRMI and RRPI cannot produce the still photos and videos themselves because there will be questions of credibility. In addition, to clean portions of the creeks for a few hours of photo operation would require ten or even twenty years of scrubbing the banks and creek beds. To do that, they need to suspend mining operations. That option will diminish their profits. So, why clean the creeks? For them it is less costly to hire CAFGUs and prevent eyewitnesses from gathering evidence. They can only arrange tours inside the mine site and show areas they have pre-cleaned and claim their operations are environment-friendly. What need to be visited are areas outside the mine site impacted by mining. Visitors should also interview the people in the island and mainland Albay (there are 14,000 fishermen among them) suffering from loss of livelihood since 2005, the same year when mining went full blast in Rapu-Rapu. The truth about the creeks is crucial to the mining issue because they are the link between the mining operation and the 95% drop in fish catch in Albay Gulf.

Indeed, Rapu-Rapu mining is responsible . . . for severe environmental damage to the island and economic injustice to the people.

Rangasa Advertises LG Product Despite SARA Boycott Call

Another evidence of Mr. Rangasa's turnaround on the issue of Rapu-Rapu mining is this photograph showing that he does not support the SARA call for boycott of LG products. Notice the LG brand of the flat screen he is using. The same equipment was last seen in his CIRCA office. The reader can validate the authenticity of this photograph by turning to Page 9 of the booklet "Championing Climate Change Adaptation the Albay Experience," published by CIRCA and the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists, Inc. after a program with the same title was held on August 5 to 8, 2010. While SARA does not recommend the destruction of LG products bought before the launching of the boycott, CIRCA’s (or Rangasa’s) subsequent use of the photograph serves to endorse or advertise now that the campaign is on. Inadvertence cannot be used as defense because Rangasa is supposed to be circumspect about the implications of his acts.

"We do not see sincerity in CIRCA!" - SARA and Sagip Isla Sagip Kapwa

Joint Press Release

November 4, 2010

“We do not see sincerity in CIRCA!”- SARA and Sagip Isla Sagip Kapwa

Groups challenge LGUs to be more responsive to the environment, decries overkill in security preparations for the summit.

At a picket protest at the La Piazza Convention Center, the venue of the LGU Summit +3i, a multi-sectoral group questioned the sincerity of the sponsoring organization, the Center for Initiative and Research on Climate Change Adaptation (CIRCA) and challenged the local government units to walk their talk. The groups also decried the security overkill on the summit considering that the topic is about climate change. Police barricades were set up near the venue as well as in the Legazpi City Airport, these measures only goes to show the anti-people and anti-environment character of the summit, which it seems, is afraid of criticisms.

According to Virgilio Perdigon Jr., spokesperson of the Save Rapu-Rapu Alliance (SARA), “Is CIRCA really doing this for the environment, for the funds of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or for the big mining companies to gain pogi points in the public eye? CIRCA’s Executive Director Manuel C. Rangasa even suggested during the October 11 meeting in preparation for the summit that Filminera, Goodfound Cement and Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Project participate in the exhibit for climate change.” As of this writing, the DENR reported that Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Project would not join the exhibit during the summit. However, the other two companies have not indicated any sign of withdrawing. Nevertheless, the mere suggestion to invite them to the climate change summit is way out of bounds.

“It is not only ironic. It is downright insulting. These companies are involved in the most destructive mining practices in the region, open pit mining chief among them. Have CIRCA and Mr. Rangasa sold their principles? The best practice that these companies can exhibit to help alleviate climate change is the immediate and total closure of their mines,” said Perdigon.

Antonio Casitas, head servant of SAGIP ISLA, said, “While it is good that summits like these are conducted it would be better if non-governmental organizations (NGOs) both in the grassroots and environmental institutions had been invited to have a more holistic view of the environmental problem we are facing. It would also be better if LGUs not only talk about climate change and disaster risk reduction but actually do something concrete about them.”

“In the short term they can issue resolutions banning deforestation and open pit mining in their areas of responsibility like here in Albay. This summit will come to naught if companies like LG International, Korea Resources, Goodfound Cement and Filminera continue their operation and destructive practices. It will be a slap on the face of Albay Governor Joey Salceda if CIRCA and Mr. Nong Rangasa will legitimize their environmental assault,” ended Casitas. # # #

Save Rapu-Rapu Alliance is formally cutting ties with Nong Rangasa, CIRCA Executive Director

Press Statement

We from the Save Rapu-Rapu Alliance (SARA) are proud that we have remained true to our name and pledge since our inception. We therefore protect and uphold our honor by being upright in both word and deed. We consider it an affront not just on the alliance but on our environmental advocacy as well when people formerly associated with us are now working as advocates of big mining companies that have devastated the island of Rapu-Rapu and other parts of the region.

It is in this light we are now formally cutting our ties with Mr. Manuel “Nong” Rangasa, currently the Executive Director of the Center for Initiatives and Research on Climate Change Adaptation (CIRCA) who has time and again tried to project himself as an environmental crusader but all the while maneuvering to win the graces of big transnational mining companies.

An evidence of Mr. Rangasa’s advocacy for mining companies was his suggestion during the meeting on October 11, 2010 in preparation for the LGU Summit +3i that mining companies namely Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Project, Filminera, and Goodfound Cement Corporation be invited to exhibit their best practices on disaster risk reduction. These companies violate Commandment Number 7 of the Ten Commandments on Climate Change proudly flaunted by the Albay Provincial Government:

Thou shall not resort to open pit mining . . . to avert climate change.

Allowing mining companies that operate open pit mines is a mockery of the Provincial Government’s advocacy against climate change. It would cast doubt on its sincerity. Mr. Rangasa’s suggestion is an indication that CIRCA wants to legitimize the violation of Commandment Number 7. We believe that the best practice which these mining companies can showcase is the total and immediate closure of their mines in order that they may contribute to our campaign against climate change.

Mr. Virgilio S. Perdigon, Jr. objected to the suggestion but when he received the copy of the minutes of the meeting, he noted that his statements were deleted. This is the second time that an omission was committed against Mr. Perdigon by Mr. Rangasa. In the 2007 National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation, the former rendered a presentation in Workshop 7 titled “The Impact of Climate Change on the Poor and the Role of the Academe in Adaptation.” It was appreciated by noted environmentalists like Dr. Helen Mendoza and Sr. Aida Velasquez who attended the workshop. However, when Mr. Perdigon received a copy of the final report, the presentation was omitted. But being Mr. Rangasa’s friend he did not mind it.

But this time, attention must be called to this second instance of omission lest Mr. Perdigon and the whole SARA be a party to a disservice to our local community residents who are major stakeholders in the climate change issue. # # #

Local Community Approval Required for Mining Operations to Continue, says PNoy

In his report to the nation after the first 100 days in office, Philippine President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, declared his policy on mining and related issues. Replying to a question from a representative of the Cordillera region, PNoy, as the President would like to be called, reiterated local community approval. We in the movement against Rapu-Rapu mining find a silver lining in this statement. We have the signature sheets to prove that mining in Rapu-Rapu has no social acceptability owing to four reasons cited in many fora and previous posts in this website. There is environmental damage and economic injustice, as we have repeatedly shown.

Hereunder is the dialogue between Alex Bangsil and the President on October 7, 2010:

Alex Bangsil, Regional Press Officer ng Tuloy Pinoy, Yellow Force and Pinoy Lawyer:

Hindi po lingid sa kaalaman ng karamihan na ang Cordillera ang isa sa mga pinakamayamang rehiyon at meron nga po tayong mga malalaking negosyo lalung-lalo na po ang mining at ang power sector na nagtayo ng malalaking negosyo rito. Ngunit marami po ang nasasadlak sa kahirapan. Ang rehiyon po ng Cordillera ang isa sa pinakamahirap dito sa ating bansa. Ano po ba ang inyong short, medium and long-term plan para sa Cordillera para maibsan ang kahirapan dito?

Translation:

It is widely known that the Cordillera is one of the richest regions (in terms of natural resources) and big business firms have invested here specially in mining and power generation. However, many are mired in poverty. The Cordillera region is one of the poorest in the country (in terms of socio-economic indicators). What are your short, medium and long-term plans to alleviate poverty here?


PNoy:

Tama po ang sinabi niyo. Napakarami ang yamang nandiyan sa Cordillera. Nandiyan po ang naudlot na autonomy niyo. Kayo po ang watershed resource the buong hilagang Luzon. Kailangan naman pong matamasa niyo ang biyayang binibigay niyo sa buong bansa. Yung short-term sa governance, more and more tutugunan. Ngayon sa mining, isa sa pinakamataas ang potensyal sa inyo ngayon, ang pananaw po natin diyan ang komunidad ang nagdidikta. Ito ba ang gusto niyong pahintulutan? Ito ba ay tumutugon doon sa mga safeguards para proteksyunan yung environment? Oo o hindi? Kayo ang dapat makilahok. Kayo dapat ang pakinggan ang boses tungo sa pag-eexploit natin ng inyong mineral resources. Sa reforestation program siyempre sa inyo magmumula. Talagang magkakaroon ng mga proyekto at pondo na kung saan trabaho ang dapat mapala ninyo. Yung sa power, natural po ineexploit ang resources niyo dapat po yung yaman na nakukuha po ng bansa ay maibalik sa inyo sa mga serbisyo, imprastuktura, pag-aangat ng kakayahan ng bawat isang mamamayan diyan.

Translation:

You’re right. Cordillera has so much wealth. Your bid for autonomy has been stymied. You are the watershed resource of the entire northern Luzon. You must reap the benefits you are bestowing on the rest of the country. The short-term plan for governance is to address this increasingly. In mining, you have the highest potential. Our view is that the community should be the one to dictate the terms. Do you approve of it? Do mining interests respond to the safeguards required for environmental protection? Yes or no? You must get involved. Your voice must be heard in the discussions about exploitation of your mineral resources. The reforestation program, of course, should begin with you. We will provide the projects and funds to generate jobs. As regards power generation, since your resources are being exploited, the benefits reaped by the country should be repaid with services, infrastructure, and the raising of living standards there.

Ilaw sa Isla

The documentary on an alternative way of developing Rapu-Rapu can now be viewed on Youtube. Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p7OZ2_2X2w.

Yes, Rapu-Rapu Mining is Responsible . . . for the extreme environmental damage and severe economic injustice in the island and surrounding areas

Lately, a couple of persons were seen roaming the city of Legazpi in T-shirts with the print We are for responsible mining and RRMI - Responsible mining at work. The title of this post is our curt reply.

BFAR V’s Amazing Ability to Contradict Itself

Being far from the truth seems not to be the sole expertise of BFAR V. That office is also capable of contradicting itself.

Remember that Regional Director Dennis V. Del Socorro declared to Bombo Radyo Legazpi that the sperm whale found near Carogcog, Rapu-Rapu died of old age. (See previous post.) Now comes a letter from the very same official stating, among others that:

“Due to the advance (sic) stage of decomposition, necropsy was not made to ascertain the cause of death.” (italics supplied)

This statement is the last sentence in paragraph 3 of the letter from Del Socorro dated September 6, 2010 addressed to Virgilio S. Perdigon, Jr., Secretary-General of Aquinas University of Legazpi, External Vice-President of Pangataman Bikol and Spokesperson of Save Rapu-Rapu Alliance. The letter is shown on the side bar.

How can a government official contradict himself through a public declaration and an official letter to a taxpayer? It is impossible to reconcile the two statements. The public must never be shortchanged by any government official who derives his salaries from taxpayer’s money.

The more important questions, however, remain: What is the actual condition of the waters around Rapu-Rapu? Could the sperm whale have died of heavy metal contamination? Is the mining operation on the island not the real cause of the death of the sperm whale and many other environmental damages ?

BFAR has the obligation to conduct an honest study and inform the people of Albay about the actual condition of the waters around Rapu-Rapu. If BFAR cannot do that, then its personnel do not earn their pay and, therefore, must resign their posts out of simple delicadeza.

BFAR Very FAR from the truth; Sperm whale died of old age?!

In a report coursed through the media in Legazpi City on July 23, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Region V attributed to old age the death of the sperm whale found in Rapu-Rapu, Albay on July 19, 2010.
(http://bomboradyo.com/index.php/news/regional-news/bicolano-news/11575-update-kagurangan-causa-kan-pagkagadan-kan-sperm-whale-sa-carogcog-rapu-rapu-albay)


This conclusion was made by the government agency despite its own prior information on July 20 that:

Ariel Tioquinto, BFAR Fisheries Emergency Response Stranding (FERS) team assistant leader, said the team confirmed that it was indeed a sperm whale measuring 15 meters long, 7.5 meters in diameter and 3 wide. (http://balita.ph/2010/07/20/dead-sperm-whale-fished-out-in-rapu-rapu-albay/)

At 15 meters long, the whale cannot be a female because the maximum length of a female sperm whale is 11 meters; its maximum weight 15 tons. The following data from different references support the hypothesis that it was not a female:

A bull can grow up to 20.5 metres (67 ft) long.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperm_whale)


The sperm whale is an animal of extremes in size (up to 18 m), sexual dimorphism (mature males have three times the mass of mature females).
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/41755/0)


Adult females may grow to lengths of 36 feet (11 m) and weigh 15 tons (13607 kg). Adult males, however, reach about 52 feet (16 m) and may weigh as much as 45 tons (40823 kg). Adult females may grow to lengths of 36 feet (11 m) and weigh 15 tons (13607 kg). Adult males, however, reach about 52 feet (16 m) and may weigh as much as 45 tons (40823 kg).
(http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/sperm_whale.html)


Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales. Adult males grow to be about 50-60 feet (17-20 meters) long, weighing about 40-50 tons (36-45 tonnes). Females are smaller, about 33-40 feet (11-13 meters) long, weighing about 14-18 tons.
(http://balita.ph/2010/07/20/dead-sperm-whale-fished-out-in-rapu-rapu-albay/)

At 12 meters (according to local residents) or 15 meters (according to BFAR V), the sperm whale that died in Rapu-Rapu could not have been a female but a young male. If so, then it could not have died of old age.

Another objection we raise to the BFAR conclusion is the total silence of the agency as to whether or not a sampling and sharing of the samples was done with third-party laboratories. Issuing the old-age cause of the whale’s death, BFAR V clearly shows that it never did any laboratory analysis or waited for any result. It takes 15 days to do the lab test. (On the dead sperm whale in 2006, the Philippine Institute of Pure and Applied Chemistry (PIPAC) of Ateneo de Manila University received the samples on April 5 and issued the results on April 20, 2006.) The 15-day requisite is confirmed by the Chemistry Department of Aquinas University of Legazpi as a period for the “incubation” of the sample. Releasing its conclusion on July 22, 2010 after visiting the site on July 20 clearly leaves the agency only two (2) days to make any laboratory test, if ever one was done. Also, BFAR V does not cite any basis for its conclusion that old age was the cause of the whale’s death. Hence, it is downright preposterous!

We reiterate our call for a third-party laboratory analysis of the flesh and internal organs of the whale. That is the transparent and objective process that will ascertain the cause of the sperm whale’s death. Anything less than that is another attempt at cover-up.

We plead to all government agencies to stop protecting the interest of aliens and big business. When the miners shall have done their damage and left the island, we the local residents of Bicol will be the ones to work together to clean up their mess. It is time, under the Aquino government, they made amends and performed their sworn duties to the people.

Sperm whale dies in Rapu-Rapu

This time the “mine sweepers” of Lafayette could not hide the body of evidence. It is too large for their nets – 12 meters long and 20 tons heavy!

On July 19, 2010, we received a report that a dead whale was floating off the shores of Barangay Carogcog, Rapu-Rapu, Albay. Verification revealed that the casualty is a sperm whale. It was already decomposing, its black skin mostly peeled off revealing a white carcass.

We recall that on January 25, 2006, a smaller sperm whale, some 2 meters long, was also found dead in almost the same spot. Apologists of Lafayette (we still refer to it as such despite the change in name to Korea Malaysia Philippines Resources, Inc.) attributed its death to hacking by the island residents. Queerly, however, it was not consumed by the “hackers.” Laboratory tests by the Philippine Institute of Pure and Applied Chemistry of Ateneo de Manila University revealed that its blood, flesh, liver and intestines were contaminated with mercury, cadmium and copper.

Usually Lafayette would send out its boats to gather dead fish floating in the waters near the mine site specially on rainy days. This was testified to by Mr. Antonio Casitas, head servant of Sagip-Isla, Sagip-Kapwa, during a dialogue called by Bishop Lucilo B. Quiambao of the Diocese of Legazpi on September 30, 2008. Mr. Casitas daringly spoke in front of the media, government representatives, and executives of LG, Kores and MSC, the new owners of Lafayette. The company would also buy dead fish from residents who find them. The reason for this is obvious: to hide any evidence of the daily death of fish that happens around the island.

The sperm whale found on July 19, 2010 was a mammoth. Residents of Rapu-Rapu testify that Lafayette personnel went to the site and tried to haul away the whale. Members of the Philippine National Police and employees of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources also came. On July 20, 2010, BFAR Regional Director Dennis del Socorro was interviewed by the television network ABS-CBN and he said that his office would look for bullet wounds and bury or burn the whale that same day.

This statement arouses our suspicion that BFAR will not conduct a thorough investigation but focus only on its “bullet wound” theory as the cause of the sperm whale’s death. We call on that agency and the DENR not to repeat their action in October 2007 when they hastily concluded that the mining operation in Rapu-Rapu was not the cause.

Lafayette itself has a record of evasions in the wake of implicating incidents. In 2005, they deflected culpability by claiming that the fishkills harmed only “two kilograms of thumb-sized fish” despite the testimony by Binosawan residents that they gathered two sacks of palm-sized dead fish near the shores and not yet counting the dead fish far out into the sea.

On July 19-21 2006, during the “tutorial runs,” 9 kilograms of dead marine organisms were found in the shorelines after the pipes leaked. The company just claimed that only water leaked and, therefore, the death of the marine organisms could not be blamed on them.

On October 26-29, 2007, another fishkill occurred. The company defended itself by claiming that the site of the fishkill was seven (7) kilometers away from the mine site which they said did not operate at the time. (See rebuttals of the claims in a previous article)

When Jessie Ecleo was murdered by a CAFGU serving as company guard, they attributed the crime to “love triangle.” When children suffered from skin diseases after swimming in the beach, the company and the Municipal Health Officer claimed that the cause was not heavy metal contamination but bacteria.

Now this dead sperm whale adds to the growing preponderance of evidences. We will not take sitting down any knee-jerk response by BFAR, DENR or any agency the way they did in the past. There should be a sampling of the whale’s flesh and internal organs and a third-party laboratory analysis should be done. Looking for bullet wounds and speedily disposing of the carcass is not the responsible action to take. These government employees are beneficiaries of our taxes and they owe us the truth. They are mandated by the civil service code to exert all effort in the performance of their duties. Anything less than that will smack of flagrant cover-up. Prove to us that under the new administration of President Benigno C. Aquino III, there is no corruption. Otherwise, they should start packing up for we will petition the new President for their removal from office.

Genuine Development of Rapu-Rapu

The mining operation in the small island of Rapu-Rapu has no significant direct or indirect benefit for the people. We have advocated the following, in lieu of mining:

1. Agriculture. – Support for farming, fishing and genuine land distribution has been the clamor of the island residents. With mining, the land that the miners will leave behind will not be conducive to agriculture because it will have no humus which plants need in their growth. Instead, acid-forming rocks and soil will make the land poisonous when the rains fall. The runoff containing both acid and silt will flow to and damage the sea. Mining will destroy the food supply of generations, whereas agriculture will ensure that every generation will have food on the table. Mining feeds the luxury of aliens - gold; agriculture sustains the most basic need of our own people - food.

2. Energy generation. – In Binosawan a microhydroelectric plant was designed by the British-Vietnamese engineer Minh Nguyen and installed through the help of the British Embassy, United Nations Development Program, Social Action Center, Sta. Florentina Parish, Sibol ng Bagong Agham at Teknolohiya, and Aquinas University of Legazpi. It sustained the lighting needs of 70 household 24 hours a day until Supertyphoon Reming damaged the lines. The miners provide a diesel-powered generator which operates 12 hours a day and emits air pollutants.

3. Fast sea transportation. – If the miners could use the fastcraft Lady Jacqueline of Leighton and reached Rapu-Rapu in one hour, why can’t the local government or any private firm invest in the same? At present it takes 3 hours to go to the island.

4. Ecofriendly road network. – After years of Hixbar and Lafayette presence on the island, and the pork barrel, none accrued to road projects in Rapu-Rapu. The only infrastructure built in the island after the alleged P135 million in taxes in 2009 is an earth road from Poblacion to Morocborocan allegedly worth P5 million and expected to be washed away when the rains come.

5. Decent housing. – With mining, the residents are pushed to the margins of the island. Residents of Binosawan are even under threat of a landslide from the waste rock deposit piled in the upper slopes. The people are entitled to houses that can withstand the typhoons that pass by the locality.

6. Potable water system. – The mining operation already poses severe drinking water problems to Pagcolbon as evidenced by the letter of Sanggunian Secretary Allan Asuncion to Engr. Roger Corpus. As the mining coverage expands, the island’s water supply will be erased.

7. Preservation of the island’s ecosystem. – No amount of taxes, no amount of rehabilitation fund will ever compensate for the damage to a fragile ecosystem because the damage is irreversible and would last for several generations, 2000 years according to National Geographic Magazine.

The basic question is not how to mine Rapu-Rapu but how to develop the island and mining is not a sustainable option. There is development when people have fair access to the seven basic material needs - food, clothing, shelter, livelihood or employment, education, security (against crime, disease and effects of old age), and recreation. When they have no such access as a result of mistaken economic priorities like permitting an island to be mined engendering environmental damage and economic injustice, there can be no development.

Where's the Development?

In April 2010, report from the island said that heavy equipment were brought to Lagsingan, a sitio of Poblacion, Rapu-Rapu. Initial information includes the construction of a road from Poblacion to Morocborocan. In response to a letter, the Department of Agriculture disclosed that the project is a farm-to-market earth road 1,800 meters long and budgeted with P5 million. Our fear is that a mere earth road will not last when the rains fall later this year. Where is justice for Rapu-Rapu? After giving an estimated P10 billion to the miners, all that the island gets in return is an earth road!

A reporter of a big TV network went to the island and told this author that there is no development in Rapu-Rapu.

So, where’s the development promised by advocates of mining? I am reminded of the article written by Peter Wallace. On October 27, 2007, Mr. Wallace published his opinions through an article titled “Where’s the pot of gold?”

Mr. Wallace wrote:

Mining has been touted as one of the sectors government will promote as a major contributor to the economy. . . Early this year, mining exports were to be 3 percent of the total exports or about $1-$2 billion. Just recently the Mines and Geosciences Bureau quoted $10 billion as a likely investment figure.

By now investment should be far higher, the big mining companies should be aggressively exploring, joint venturing, buying mines. But, except for a handful, they’re not.
A smart government would ask why, and act to change it. The secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources should be talking to the industry and asking why.

The first to feel sorry for such a dour situation should be the government. It seems an Australian is sorrier and does all the sour-graping. Why? Because foreigners like him have more to gain from the newly bared mining resources of the Philippines than Filipinos ourselves. Like a virgin being undressed before alien eyes, the mountains of our country make the mouth of Mr. Wallace water.

Since Mr. Wallace really thinks so low of us Filipinos I am inclined to return the volley. Australia began to be colonized by England as a place of exile for rapists, murderers, thieves and other species of low life. If he thinks $10 billion is not being availed of by us then he should be happy because such huge amount is still in his countrymen’s hands. One man’s expense is another’s income. The Filipino’s non-income is the foreigner’s savings. We do not feel sorry for that but Mr. Wallace does! Why? Because that $10 billion is a “bait” with which the likes of him would ensnare our people and squeeze out the bounty of our land. No fool would put in one dollar and get 90 cents in return. Mr. Wallace proposes to pour in $ 10 billion because he wants foreigners to receive 20, 30 billion dollars or more. In Rapu-Rapu, for example, Lafayette is reported to invest $40 million. A browsing of the company’s website and a research on metal prices plus some arithmetic would reveal that Lafayette would earn $1.549 billion. That’s earning $38 for every $1 invested! What do the people of Rapu-Rapu get in return? In Mr. Wallace’s word NADA! They got five major fishkills, 68% decline in fish catch, decline in copra production, landslides, black bug infestation brought in by Lafayette ships, total loss of drinking water supply in Barangay Pagcolbon, militarization, poverty, and migration.

Filipinos are not taking the bait and so Mr. Wallace calls our government unsmart and by extension, our people too.

If the current rush into mining concessions is not enough for Mr. Wallace that is his problem. We, Filipinos, do not need an alien like him to tell us what to do. For us, the frenzy over mining explorations is destroying our forests, mountains, rivers and seas. In return, so much destruction of livelihoods has happened. In Rapu-Rapu, for example, five fishkills have been documented. An average of 68% decline in fish catch was reported by Ibon Foundation in a study conducted in February 2007.

We have been dictated to by foreigners since 1565 when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived. We do not need another dictation disguised as unsolicited advice from an alien. That constitutes foreign interference. His advocated foreign investment in an industry originally exclusive to Filipinos is economic interference.

Mr. Wallace wrote:

There, of course, is one reason I can immediately cite: Continuity. You don’t change managers every few months if you wish to instill a sense of stability in a system. . . It’s crazy. It introduces a level of uncertainty that if you’re investing hundreds of millions of dollars, you will surely pause to think. Every manager (in this case Secretary) has his own philosophies, own set of priorities, own agenda. And a change can be quite substantial, particularly in a country where the leader herself has changed policy emphases fairly frequently.

If Mr. Wallace meets a problem he will not solve it. He will find someone or something to blame. In this instant case, he blames the government. If there is any wrong which our government has done it is not doing nothing. Rather, it is doing so much for foreign companies. One regional director even sounds like the spokesperson of Lafayette. Our government provides tax deductions and holidays to the countrymen of Mr. Wallace. I pay 23% of my annual income as tax. I work for 12 months, I give back two months income as tax. With 13th month pay, I have the equivalent of 11 months of earnings to use for my needs. Since there is a 12% EVAT approximately another month’s income is taken away as tax. That leaves me with only 10 months out of the equivalent of 13 months of work.

What tax is paid by mining companies? Under the PEZA privileges, they pay only 7% plus the measly real estate taxes. However, they are given by the Special Economic Zone Act, a tax-free period of six to eight years. Originally, Lafayette said its mine life was six years. Later the company adjusted it to eight years. Those estimates are not results of a technical study. They are results of a taxation study. Other corporations are taxed at the rate of 32% of their income.

Mr. Wallace wrote:

On top of that, the government has done a poor job at protecting the industry from attack. The incident at the Lafayette mine in Rapu Rapu was allowed to get completely out of hand. Oppositors, including Bishop Bastes, had a field day— and the government stood by. It even, quite unbelievably, encouraged it by appointing this bishop to head an investigation. He, of course, recommended closing the mine.

Well, he almost succeeded, and the government’s dilly-dallying over giving approval to re-open the mine almost broke the company. This was a minor incident. It should have been resolved within 3-6 months. Lafayette had made the corrections by then, but it was 12 costly months later before approval to re-open was given.

As to countering the rabid vilification by oppositors and giving a true picture of what happened, the government did nothing. Just stood by.

The Arroyo government has been overly protective of foreign interests while laying bare to alien rape the patrimony of its citizens. In the Rapu-Rapu case, Lafayette failed the “tutorial” run. The leaks and other failures are documented in the Technical Working Group Report. Instead of honoring his word, “You fail it, I close it!”, Mr. Angelo Reyes permitted the company to resume operations.

One nasty practice of opinion-makers is the use of exaggeration as in claiming that Bishop Bastes “had a field day – and the government stood by.” If I read the TWG Report on the “tutorial” run correctly and saw the ceremonies in Malacañang with clear eyes, the government was severely biased against the RRFFC and favored the minority report of Mr. Gregorio Tabuena. It was Mr. Tabuena who recommended a “test” run which was not in the recommendations of the commission. Of all the commission’s recommendations, none was heeded. If that was not protecting the foreign investor, then what is?

The government stood idly by. That’s true. It did nothing to protect Filipino interest. Yes, the recommendation was to close the mine. Just a minor correction: that recommendation did not come from Bishop Bastes. It came from the majority. The Tabuena recommendation for a test run was heeded by the government. In spite of so many concessions to Lafayette, Mr. Wallace still has the gall to whine about a government that “stood idly by”. He even has the chronology confused. The government did not stand idly by then appointed Bishop Bastes. Instead, the government appointed Bishop Bastes, ignored the recommendations of the Commission, heeded that of Mr. Tabuena, then showered Lafayette with so many favors. After all that, Mr. Wallace still feels so much inadequacy.

The “rabid vilification” was committed not by Lafayette oppositors but by Lafayette apologists and the company’s own Community Relations Department. Consider the following:

Atty. Bayani Agabin threatened to sue those spreading the “hoax that was the October 2007 fishkill”. Glaring evidences in the form of reports and photographs abounded but to Atty. Agabin the fifth fishkill was a “hoax”.

At least two members of the Albay Sangguniang Panlalawigan staunchly defended Lafayette against the accusations.

The true picture of what happened was distorted by Lafayette itself when its managers denied in public their culpability for the October 2005 fishkills but admitted it in their private communications to the DENR.

The truth about Lafayette operations was suppressed when the Philippine Daily Inquirer removed from its February 17, 2007 issue the body of the story titled “Environmentalists from 27 nations sign petition for investors in Rapu-Rapu mine to pull out. We searched every page of the issue but the story was nowhere.

If we remember correctly, it was the RRFFC specially Bishop Bastes who was severely vilified.

Mr. Wallace wrote:

When I come across media’s virulent attacks on mining, on top of the tirades of some members of the Church and well-funded NGOs, I wonder why mining companies even bother at all. Why not just leave the Philippines to be a backwater with its people in poverty? I’m not aware of any action any of these groups are doing that would give a job and a decent life to Filipinos. I’m not even aware of any positive action many of these groups are taking to improve the environment.

We also wonder why despite the strong and loud protests against mining companies they still remain in the country. Makapal ang mukha is our word for it. We also wonder why a guest of the Philippines is allowed to stay here longer than a day after insulting us with: Why not just leave the Philippines to be a backwater with its people in poverty? We had prosperity in the 1800s from the abaca industry. Our economy was second only to Japan’s in the 1960’s. It never boomed because of mining. Masbate and Camarines Norte have been mined since the Spanish times but they remain among the poorest ten provinces to this day. Take these statistics:

Aroroy, Masbate has been a mining town since 1837 (http://www.geocities.com/ppsec/pp/masbate.htm) yet it is only a 2nd Class municipality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroroy,_Masbate). Masbate is the poorest province of Bicol with a poverty incidence level of 62.8% according to the NSCB survey in 2000 (http://txtmania.com/trivia/national.php).

Paracale, Camarines Norte has been a mining town since 1939 (http://www.wallstreetreporter.com/linked/PearlAsianMiningIndustries.html) and yet it is only a 3rd Class municipality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracale,_Camarines_Norte). Camarines Norte is the second poorest province of Bicol, with a poverty incidence level of 52.7% according to the NSCB survey in 2000 (http://txtmania.com/trivia/national.php).

Rapu-Rapu, Albay has been mined since the 1930’s but it is only a 4th Class municipality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapu-Rapu,_Albay ), the poorest in the province.

Both Masbate and Camarines Norte are listed as among the country’s ten (10) poorest provinces per NSCB survey in 2000 (http://txtmania.com/trivia/national.php).

On the other hand, the country’s richest provinces and congressional districts derive their wealth not from mining but other industries:

In its 2000 survey, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) identified the ten provinces with the lowest poverty incidence levels. Each of the four districts in Metro Manila, composed of several cities and/or municipalities, was treated as a province in the survey.

1. 2nd district of Metro Manila1 4.1 percent (a)
2. 4th district of Metro Manila2 4.9 percent (b)
3. Bulacan, 5.4 percent
4. 1st district of Metro Manila (Manila), 5.8 percent (c)
5. Batanes, 7.5 percent
6. Rizal, 8 percent
7. Laguna, 8.6 percent
8. 3rd district of Metro Manila3, 9 percent
9. Bataan, 9.9 percent
10. Cavite, 10.2 percent.

(a) Mandaluyong, Marikina, Pasig, Quezon City and San Juan
(b) Las Pinas, Makati, Muntinlupa, Paranaque, Pasay, Pateros and Taguig
(c) Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon and Navotas

(Source: http://www.txtmania.com/trivia/national.php)

If those are not enough, consider these:


-----------------------Share in non-fuel minerals --------Population
-----------------------in Value of total Exports -------below Poverty line
Country -----------------(percent)-----------------------(percent)

Guinea-----------------------17----------------------------- 40
Niger-------------------------67----------------------------- 63
Zambia-----------------------66----------------------------- 86
Jamaica----------------------53----------------------------- 34
Chile--------------------------43----------------------------- 21
Peru---------------------------40----------------------------- 49
Congo------------------ ------40----------------------------- 49
Mauritania-------------------40----------------------------- n.a.
Papua New Guinea----------35------------------------------ 57
Togo--------------------------30------------------------------ 32

(Source: UNCTAD Handbook of World Mineral Trade Statistics; World Bank Development Indicators; UN Development Programme: Human Development Report 2001, quoted in the lecture of Dr. Giovanni Tapang of the University of the Philippines College of Engineering on January 31, 2006 at the Daragang Magayon Hall of Aquinas University of Legazpi).

The data show that these countries’ exports are composed of high percentages of non-fuel minerals and yet the percentages of their populations below poverty line are also very high. In his testimony before the commission on April 6, Hon. Alvarez stated that the mining communities of the Cordilleras, Canada, and Australia “have become miserable patches of poverty after the gold or the mineral ore was extracted.” So, what poverty alleviation can arise from mining?

These statements are downright arrogant: “I’m not aware of any action any of these groups are doing that would give a job and a decent life to Filipinos. I’m not even aware of any positive action many of these groups are taking to improve the environment.”

It is the problem of Mr. Wallace if he is unaware of certain things. Everyone has the privilege to choose ignorance. But arrogance is entirely different. He is unaware of the effect of Lafayette mining on the fish catch of fishermen in Rapu-Rapu – a decline of 68% according to an Ibon Foundation study in February 2007. Of the 286 jobs in the mine, only 131 are for the residents of Rapu-Rapu. The company promised 1000 during start up and 416 during normal operation in a Powerpoint presentation in 2001. The anti-mining NGOs are the ones protecting the livelihood of people. All that mining companies can give to ordinary people are menial jobs while their executives sitting in airconditioned offices earn millions. Mr. Wallace only has to read the annual reports of Lafayette to verify this. Not only are mining companies depriving people of their livelihood. The companies are also destroying the resources that should have been protected for the use of future generations as sustainable development requires.

Mr. Wallace also wrote:

If I were a mining company I’d like the government to tell me what it has done, and will do to fully protect my investment and my people. I’m not going to invest in a place where both are at risk. I’d have called all the mining company representatives that are here for an extended dialogue (meaning, two-way talks) about these issues: What are the concerns? What will be done about them?

Specific actions and corresponding deadlines committed to. I’ve offered to arrange it, but thus far I’ve had no response from government.

Since I am a taxpayer (while mining companies are given so much tax breaks) I’d like the government to tell me what it has done, and will do to fully protect my tax and my people. I’m not going to continue supporting an administration that places both at risk. I call on it to scrap the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. After 15 years, where is the development? What have mining companies like Lafayette done to our national patrimony?

Why demand response from our government? Mr. Wallace is not a citizen. He is better deported back to Australia for insulting us and advocating interests inimical to the Filipino people.


Mr. Wallace's article was downloaded from
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=peterWallace_oct26_2007 October 27, 2007

Would You Plant Your Feet in Mid-air?

(A response to Peter Wallace’s "Would You Invest Here?")

George Bernard Shaw once said about liberals as people who “have their feet solidly planted in mid-air.” We have nothing against liberals, neither anything in favor of conservatives nor something about those in the grey area between. Also, we do not know if the Australian columnist Peter Wallace is a liberal, conservative or anywhere in the grey area between. Of one thing, however, we are certain: as to the reality of life for the millions of toiling masses of Filipinos, Mr. Wallace is way up in his Cloud 9. We do not blame him. He is an alien from Down Under where life is more pleasant. The Philippines is poor because we citizen Filipinos have no control over and do not benefit from our own natural resources. Those resources have been given over to foreigners by Filipino authorities who are junior partners of the former. The toiling masses get meager wages, the junior partners get much but the foreign investor reaps the lion’s share. In Rapu-Rapu, for example, based on figures from Lafayette itself, the gain is $37.5 for every $1 invested. If the Philippines is in such a mess, most of the cause is foreign domination which, today, masquerades as foreign investment which Mr. Wallace taunts us to accept hook, line and sinker much like the spider that welcomed its victims to the parlor:

Come hither, hither, pretty Fly, with the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple — there’s a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead!”
Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little Fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by;
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue –
Thinking only of her crested head — poor foolish thing! At last,
Up jumped the cunning Spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
Within his little parlour — but she ne’er came out again!

And now dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly flattering words, I pray you ne’er give heed:
Unto an evil counsellor, close heart and ear and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly.

Again, take the case of the residents of Rapu-Rapu. Mr. Wallace once wrote, “where’s the pot of gold?” (Manila Standard Today October 26, 2007) We ask, in Rapu-Rapu where’s the development? When our NGO volunteers went there in August 2009, they saw a woman making hard brooms out of coconut midribs. Each sells for P15 (about 35 US cents). She makes four in a day. Yet, the coconuts are threatened by destruction as the mining operation of the former Lafayette Mining Limited of Australia through its local subsidiary, Lafayette Philippines, Inc. (now named Korea Malaysia Philippines Resources, Inc) expands from the southern tip to the north of the island.

Mr. Wallace is in the Philippines to convince Filipinos that Australian investment is good. We do know it is good! But good for whom? Certainly for them; we have doubts if it is, for Filipinos. The Rapu-Rapu trauma from Lafayette Mining Limited of Australia may not be the representative case of their engagement here but it definitely opens our minds to the very real phenomenon of good intentions paving the road to hell.

On March 5, 2010 Mr. Wallace wrote in the Manila Standard Today:

A mine (Lafayette) was closed for a mining spill that did no measurable damage. A delay of over 6 months to approve reopening forced the company into bankruptcy. Bishop Arturo Bastes lied to encourage that closure, which the government acquiesced to.

Mr. Wallace strayed too far from the facts of that unhappy incident (unhappy, for us here in the locality) as the following rebuttals would prove:

The mining spills of 2005 did a lot of damage. – Lafayette violated the Clean Water Act of the Philippines. It was slapped with a total of P16 million in fines. Mr. Wallace can go over the records of the Pollution Adjudication Board. If the fines were undeserved, then Mr. Wallace can initiate a refund proceeding.

The people of Rapu-Rapu and surrounding towns suffered immensely from income loss because the fish in Albay Gulf were poisoned with cyanide measured at 35 parts per million (the tolerable limit is 0.05 ppm). (Source: Mines and Geosciences Bureau “Fact sheet on the Mercury Issue in Albay” dated February 2, 2006 Page 9) While the executives of Lafayette continued to earn their millions in salaries, the fishermen of Albay and Sorsogon lost their meager incomes. The pre-operation survey of Lafayette revealed that the fishermen in the primary impact barangays of Malobago, Pagcolbon and Binosawan were earning P19.8 million a year. (Source: Lafayette Powerpoint presentation titled Baseline Data slide 12). The company did not reveal any economic impact study after the mining operation started. However, Ibon Foundation learned, through a study in February 2007, that the average weekly income of fishermen in five barangays (Poblacion, Malobago, Binosawan, Tinopan in Rapu-Rapu and Billante in Prioto Diaz) dropped by 68.56%. (Ibon Foundation; Mining Rapu-Rapu’s Pot of Gold, a Study on the Socioeconomic Impacts of the Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Project on the Residents of Rapu-Rapu, Albay and Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon). These are the hard facts on the ground. So, where’s the development? Would you invest in mining here and still raise your nose high in civilized society?

Mr. Wallace should have been there when the women, children and some men from Rapu-Rapu Island stormed the session of the Albay Provincial Board on December 12, 2007. Ms. Shanta Martin, then with Oxfam Australia, was there to witness for all Australians. Those people dared to storm a government function because they have been suffering from immeasurable damage. Does Mr. Wallace still insist on his “no measurable damage”? Perhaps, he is right - because “no measurable damage” also translates to immeasurable damage!

November 2005 to July 2006 was not a period of total closure. – During that period, Rapu-Rapu Processing, Inc. was ordered to stop but, Lafayette’s other arm, the Rapu-Rapu Minerals, Inc. continued to blast the open pit and quarry for gold, silver, copper and zinc. The dust continued to settle on the surrounding villages and the shaking of the ground was felt as far as the town center. Instead of totally closing the mine, erstwhile DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes ordered a “test run” following the advice of one member of the Rapu-Rapu Fact-finding Commission, Mr. Gregorio Tabuena. What took place were one “test run” after another until the mine had a semblance of compliance with the Clean Water Act of the Philippines. True enough, the runs were not tests but “tutorials.” A test is administered by a teacher on a student who works independently. In the case of Lafayette, the Technical Working Group was behind the company tutoring it on what to do when there were failures (the TWG Report shows that on July 20-21, 2006 there was a fishkill; the graphs of the readings of heavy metal content of samples were “way above the charts.”)

Lafayette was not bankrupt. It could afford to pay Mr. Roderick Watt $ 365,867 or the equivalent of P18,293,350 (at exchange rates prevailing in 2006 and 2007) despite the October spills. Mr. David Baker earned $ 1,197,884 or P 55,433,075. (Source: LML Annual Reports for 2006 and 2007) Lafayette is like the man who went to a feast and later complained that he starved!

Some impudence.- Mr. Wallace has the temerity to write: Bishop Arturo Bastes lied to encourage that closure, which the government acquiesced to. If Mr. Wallace wrote a similar charge against a Muslim imam, he would have deserved a fatwah call for death. But we are Catholics and we are reminded of the first of the Seven Last Words of Christ: Forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).

It is bad enough that an Australian meddles in Philippine affairs. It is worse that a foreigner insults a Filipino. It is worst that a foreign meddler fallaciously writes in the press of a predominantly Catholic country that a bishop lied!

Bishop Arturo Bastes, SVD of the Diocese of Sorsogon told the truth that the Commission, formed with presidential approval, recommended the closure of the Rapu-Rapu mine. The government did not acquiesce to the recommendation. On the contrary, Sec. Reyes allowed Lafayette to undergo “tutorial” runs; the company failed the “tutorials” as the TWG Report proves; and yet Lafayette was permitted in the end to continue normal operations. That is the bare truth! Wallace is the one lying!

How would he know the truth about Rapu-Rapu? He was never here. He did not see the mother of three children who almost died after eating poisoned fish from the seashore. He does not feel the earth shaken when RRMI blasts the open pit. He does not traverse hills and creeks on foot for seven hours just to sell farm produce in the town center. He cannot see the brown, yellow and orange colors of creeks emanating from the minesite and disgorging their waters into Albay Gulf. He is way up there in Could 9, his feet solidly planted in mid-air.

To prove how absurd the position of this Wallace is, the reader is invited to read his article titled “Corruption is endemic – but must it be?” published in the Manila Standard Today on April 9, 2010. After devoting ten paragraphs to the corruption of the Berlusconi government in Italy, Mr. Wallace writes: Don’t you find yourself transcribing “Philippines” into each of the paragraphs above?

What is the point of mentioning this? The point is that Mr. Wallace himself is convinced that the Philippines is wracked with corruption. If he knows the Philippines that much then he also knows how deep corruption has crept into the implementation of environmental laws, the Mining Act of 1995 included. For example, he should know that Lafayette’s lawyer offered P5 million to the local officials of Rapu-Rapu to get the latter’s assent to the reopening of the mine. Lafayette itself drafted the resolution supposed to be passed by the municipal council calling for the resumption of mine operation. There is the National Bureau of Investigation Legazpi District Office Report which concluded that there was no contamination in and around the mine site yet it says the sampling was done on April 4, 2006 then submitted to the NBI Forensic Chemistry Division in Manila on March 28, 2006 – one week before the date of sample gathering! Asked through two letters how this discrepancy in dates happened, the NBI Legazpi District Office never gave a formal reply, just a verbal word that we did not deserve a copy of the report because we were not the ones who commissioned the NBI investigation. I had a chance to divulge this discrepancy in a conference of pollution control officers on May 9, 2007 in Casablanca Hotel in Legazpi City in the presence of Engr. Jason Magdaong of Lafayette. The engineer replied that his company had nothing to do with the NBI Legazpi report!

A lot more skeletons in the closet await anyone who would care to read about the Lafayette misadventure in Rapu-Rapu. I have written a book about it. It is due for launching soon.