Today, our group reported about the Marcopper Mining Case. To give you a short background about the case, below is the summary of who Marcopper is, and what happen.

Marcopper Mining Corporation explores, develops and operates mining sites which produces copper, silver and gold. It is co-owned (40%) and managed by Placer Dome, a Canadian company. Moreover, it is considered the largest employer in Marinduque and created most of the infrastructure on the island. It also makes up most of Marinduque’s revenue, and its mines produce 20% of the country’s copper supply.

Unfortunately, despite the economic benefits it brought to Marinduque, Marcopper has its tremendous environmental damages. On March 24, 1996, the plug that sealed the Tapian pit tunnel (the tunnel that serves as tailings dam) to the Boac River had cracked and this released 2-3 million tons of mine waste into the river. In effect, flash floods isolated villages, agricultural fields were inundated, and drinking water was contaminated. Moreover, fish, shrimp and other sources of foods were killed. The Boac River which used to be their main source of livelihood was then declared dead.

After the disaster, Marcopper and Placer Dome stopped its mining operations. It was found out that Marcopper already knew of the leaks in the drainage tunnel back in 1995, as it sought the help of a geotechnical consultant to plug the leaks. The Bureau of Mines, who monitored Marcopper’s compliance with the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), made no report of this. Moreover, the government tried to cover up its negligence and asserted that environmental laws were dutifully enforced throughout the years. The DENR Undersecretary who approved the ECC even denied that he knew of the Taipan drainage tunnel.

As we can see, at the end, it seems that DENR wants to wash itself away from the fault. But, who issued the ECC for Marcopper to use Tapian pit? Who is supposedly be checking those mining operations? For me, DENR should admit their faults, and do something about it. It is their accountability to protect the environmental claims of the Philippines. That is why in our case analysis, we decided to analyze in the perspective of the DENR. What should the DENR do in order to prevent his kind of issues?

Our group concluded that the DENR in cooperation with the government should implement higher DENR standards for mining operations and shut down companies that do not comply. We want to give emphasis to shut down non-compliant mining companies, as this will immediately give justice to the citizens who are badly affected by their bad practices. If we are to prolong the bad operation of mining companies, then the damage to environment becomes heavier which could lead to another mining disaster.

Last 2015, we had another mining disaster, the Philex mining disaster. Indeed, history repeats itself. It seems that we have not learned from the Marcopper case. For me, the root cause of this is really the implementation of law and the lack of action from DENR. They should not be just issuing ECC without being cautious. They should check and monitor the compliance of mining companies.

In my opinion, the existing law has its own drawbacks and loopholes. In Philippine Mining Act of 1995, Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) exists. MPSA is an agreement where the government grants to the contractor the exclusive right to conduct mining operations within a contract area and shares in the gross output. In other words, the government gets a percentage from the income of mining companies, and this is aside from the usual tax imposed to the company. Therefore, I actually believe that one of the reasons why previously mining companies where not ordered shutdown, is that there is a potential loss of government’s income from it. Aside from that, the process of issuing ECCs is also prone to under-the-table negotiations and corruption. We witnessed how corrupt our government is, and I can’t help but doubt their services.

Lately, our current DENR secretary, Gina Lopez, orders many mining companies who fail to comply with environmental requirements to shut down and immediately stop operating. I agree with her initiative. Although, companies are protesting that this is unfair for them as they are not subjected to due process and that potential income will be lost, and even their workers will lose jobs and income. But, at the end of the day, humans will always need natural resources, and how are we going to sustain it when we keep on abusing it? Just imagine, what if suddenly our water sources at home suddenly become contaminated with mining tailings? Is income still important to us, when we don’t even have a clean water to drink?