TUBA, Benguet – With projects ranging from human resource and capacity-building to health and education, public infrastructure and livelihood, and information campaign to industry improvement, Philex Mining Corp. spent a total of P25.35 million for the development of its outlying communities in this province during the first quarter of the year.
The amount involved the P5.95 million taken from the allotted 2018 budget, as well as the previously unspent funds that were carried over for the recently completed projects, according to the company’s Community Relations (ComRel) Dept. at Padcal mine, its gold-and-copper operations in Benguet.
“These projects are manifestations of the company’s commitment to finish, implement, and deliver them to our corresponding host and neighboring villages,” the company’s president and CEO, Eulalio Austin, Jr., said. “Community development is a hallmark of our operations, and we have no plans of slowing down.”
All the projects involved had been pursued and implemented through the company’s three major pillars of corporate social responsibility, namely, Social Development Program (SDMP), Information, Education and Communications (IEC) campaign, and the Development of Mining Technology and Geosciences (DMTG).
Health and education, which ComRel has classified as “common programs” under its social-development program, ate up the bulk of the SDMP fund during the first quarter at P3.19 million and P2.12 million, respectively, including both the current and the unspent funds carried over from 2017, 2016, and 2015.
This brings to P8.29 million the total amount spent for SDMP, which also involves projects in livelihood and enterprise development, public infrastructure, and sociocultural development, ComRel indicated in a report, dated April 30, submitted to the regional Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MBG), in Baguio City, a government agency that regulates the mining industry.
In an earlier statement, Philex Mining said it had set aside a total of P109 million for this year’s SDMP, IEC, and DMTG. The amount would balloon to P142.79 million, however, to include the carry-over amounts that had not been spent during the three previous years.
ComRel said the allocated amount, excluding the carry-overs, is broken down into P81.75 million for SDMP, P16.35 million for IEC, and P10.9 million for DMTG; as well as the P315,281 for the company’s Poro Point Installation, in San Fernando, La Union.
The budget for Poro Point, situated on the coastal village of Poro and where Philex Mining ships its copper concentrate from to a refinery abroad for further processing, includes all its SDMP, IEC, and DMTG.
Philex Mining has barangay Camp 3, in Tuba, and barangay Ampucao, in Itogon, for its host villages; as well as barangay Camp 1 and barangay Ansagan (both in Tuba), and barangay Dalupirip (Itogon) for its neighboring villages. Both the host and neighboring villages are collectively called “outlying communities.”
By HENT
