The Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) on Monday called for transparency in the conduct of public consultations for mining projects to address concerns raised by communities who are at risk of possible mining disasters.
Jaybee Garganera, national coordinator of ATM issued the call as he assailed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources- Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) for keeping would-be affected communities of the potential adverse impact of mining projects.
He said communities are entitled to know what risks they are exposed to in case a mining firm commences commercial operations in particular area.
According to Garganera, the DENR also divulge to the public documents such as environmental impact assessment or environmental impact assessment reports (EIA) submitted by mining companies to the DENR.
“At this time, we were expecting the DENR and its different bureaus to be transparent and not keep from us the public documents such as EIA reports. These are relevant documents that will give a glimpse of how the mining activities will impact the environment and the people in general, and how the mining company intends to mitigate these negative impacts,” Garganera said.
Documents such as an EIA, he added, will give the people vital information or knowledge about a proposed project and to decide whether to allow mining in their locality.
“Unfortunately, these scheme of not properly informing the people reflects the lack of responsibility and accountability of the EMB and the DENR to its constituents—the public,” Garganera said.
He issued the statement after participants walked out in protest during a public forum on mining conducted by the DENR-EMB in Punta Malabrigo, Lobo, Batangas on May 21.
The hearing was set to discuss the EIA reports for two large-scale mining projects in Lobo. While the people were invited to the hearing, Garganera said they were not given full access to the EIAs reports submitted by the mining companies.
Fr. Dakila Ramos, of the Archdiocesan Ministry for Environment (AMEN), said they walked out because of the lack of transparency of the government agency and the mining company.
Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) documents indicate that two permits for gold and copper mines exploration has been issued to an Egerton Gold Philippines Inc. in 2002 covering a total of almost 1,175 hectares.
“Any public hearing needs full transparency, how could we have transparency in this hearing if we the stakeholders are not given the copy environmental impact statement [EIS] prepared by the mining company. We only have the executive summary that has no details of their EIA. This public hearing should be declared void. We need the full copy of EIS for us to study it and then we are ready to face them in a public hearing,” Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles says.
According to ATM, Atty. Carlo Vic Arida, the hearing officer, allegedly disregarded the concern of the people and insisted that the hearing push through.
Garganera accused the EMB of planning to push through with the hearing despite the lack of information on how the mining development will impact the communities and environment.
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I hope they go to Surigao Del Norte, and see for themselves the destruction made by these so-called “compliant” and “socially-responsible”mining companies….