TUBA, Benguet –Philex Mining Corp. completed P21 million worth of infrastructure projects in this town which, along with Itogon, hosts the company’s Padcal mine, a gold-and-copper operations for 2017 in the barangays of Camp 3, Camp 1, and Ansagan.
The P2.3-million concreting of a 792-meter (m) road pavement in Sitio Abiang, Brgy. Camp 1, topped the list of all 58 completed projects, followed by the 5-m long and 7-m high gabion wall constructed at Sitio Alang’s Kiggong and Cabanusan Creek, in Brgy. Camp 3, worth P1.53 million, and the P1.45-million electrification project in Sitios Shimada, Alang, and Camait, also in Brgy. Camp 3. A 457-m road pavement in Brgy. Ansagan’s Sitio Lupitak was also concreted to the tune of P1.03 million.
The electrification project included the extension of secondary lines in Sitios Shimada and Alang, as well as electrical wiring, lighting, and convenience outlet installation also in Shimada and Alang, and in Sito Camait, according to Mherdad Jamal Agustin, coordinator for public infrastructure at Padcal’s Community Relations (ComRel) Dept.
“We also have projects still ongoing but are carryovers from 2016 and 2015,” Agustin said, adding that eight projects being carried over from two years ago are worth P2.42 million, six of which are located in Brgy. Camp 3’s Sitio Mangga and two are in Sitios Alapang, Bastian, Torre, and Buo. The two projects being carried over from 2015, on the other hand, are worth P1.6 million and located in Sitios Alapang and Alang, also in Brgy. Camp 3.
The 2017 projects being carried over to this year, in the meantime, total 11 with a cost of P7.22 million and located in Brgy. Camp 3’s Sitios Shimada, Bastian, Torre, Kimmabab, Balding, Balayan, Colocol, and Brgy. Camp 3-Proper. These are multipurpose halls, function halls, road improvements, and a potable water system, among other projects, Agustin said.
A report prepared by Agustin on the 2017 SDMP, or Social Development and Management Program, shows that 45 projects worth P15.77 million were implemented in 13 sitios of the host barangay of Camp 3, while six projects worth P2.78 million were in the neighboring barangay of Camp 1, and seven projects worth P2.45 were in Brgy. Ansagan, also a neighboring village.
ComRel said the host and neighboring barangays, or villages, are collectively called outlying communities. In Itogon, the host and neighboring barangays are Ampucao and Dalupirip, respectively. In August, Philex Mining turned over five infra projects worth P6 million to Brgy. Ampucao.
At end-2017, Philex Mining, through Padcal’s ComRel, turned over close to P14 million worth of infrastructure projects to Itogon. Ranging from concrete road and retaining wall to drainage canal and grouted riprap with parapet wall to health center and science laboratory, the 33 projects covered the company’s social-program accomplishments for the second and third quarters.
Besides infrastructure, Philex Mining has likewise implemented health, education, and livelihood projects in the outlying communities under its annual SDMP.
“Our religious implementation of SDMP, IEC [Information, Education and Communications] campaign, and DMTG [Development of Mining Technology and Geosciences] is part of our responsible-mining practices done conscientiously,” Roy Mangali, AVP at Philex Mining and assistant resident manager of Padcal, said. “We’ve also been doggedly implementing environmental-protection program and religiously paying our taxes to both local and national governments.”
Philex Mining had allotted P110.48 million for the various projects under SDMP, IEC, and DMTG in 2017, during the first half of which the company completed P15.84 million worth of infra projects carried over from the 2016 ASDMP. Total budget for the three programs—mandated as 1.5 percent of a miner’s total operating expenses in the previous year—reached P730.48 million between 2003 and 2017. Of the 1.5-percent share, 75 percent goes to SDMP, 15 percent is for IEC, and 10 percent for DMTG.
For 2017, the company had set aside P82.9 million for its SDMP, P16.6 million for IEC—media and public campaign on the various benefits derived from mining—and P11 million for DMTG, which is earmarked for the research-and-development projects being carried out by scholars and professionals to improve the industry
In 2016, Philex Mining delivered 67 projects worth P24.5 million, or 36.58 percent of the total infra budget of P66,987,723.13, to its outlying communities. Total budget for SDMP, IEC, and DMTG amounted to P110 million, based on its 2015 operating expenses of P7.3 billion.
By HENT
