MANKAYAN, Benguet – The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), an attached agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), upheld the earlier decision of its regional office that two Ilocos Sur towns located below the area of operation of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC) are neighboring communities of the mining company which must benefit from its Social Development and Management Program (SDMP) projects.
In his letter to Mayor Materno R. Luspian, Undersecretary and concurrent MGB Director Mario Luis J. Jacinto concurred with MGB-CAR’s position that the municipalities of Cervantes and Quirino, Ilocos Sur are neighboring communities of LCMC and should be beneficiaries of its annual SDMP projects that are being programmed in consultation with the beneficiaries.
Jacinto pointed out the MGB decision is further strengthened in the environmental performance report and management plan of LCMC wherein it is stated that the municipalities of Quirino and Cervantes are reportedly situated along the Abra river, one of the major water bodies within the LCMC mining claim and where the final discharge of the effluence from the tailings storage facility is being drained.
He emphasized MGB-CAR based its decision on the definition of a host and neighboring community under Section 5 of the DENR Administrative Order 2010-21, the consolidated implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act (RA) 7942 otherwise known as the Philippine Mining Act which provides that host community refers to the people living at the barangays outside the mining camp where the mining project is located and neighboring communities refer to the people living in the barangays which are adjacent to the host community; areas covered by the mining tenement of the project; areas where mining facilities are located and immediate areas which will be affected by the mining operations.
Earlier, Luspian questioned the inclusion of Cervantes and Quirino as beneficiaries of LCMC’s mining operation considering that the said municipalities are not directly affected by the said mining operation, thus, the said municipalities should not benefit from the company’s annual SDMP projects and that the same should be concentrated in the barangays in Mankayan town.
However, the MGB-CAR affirmed that the municipalities of Cervantes and Quirino in Ilocos Sur are part of the identified neighboring communities of LCMC based on the results of the impact assessment conducted in the said areas, thus, the said towns are entitled to benefit from the company’s annual SDMP.
Under the Philippine Mining Act, mining companies are obliged to allocate 1.5 percent of the company’s operating cost for the previous year for the various SDMP projects for the current year.
The law provides the identification of the SDMP projects shall be done in consultation with the concerned stakeholders so that the needs of the communities will be the ones that will be prioritized.
By HENT
