TUBA, Benguet – Philex Mining Corp. has completed during the first half of the year about P15.84 million worth of public infrastructure projects, which are part of its 2016 social program intended for the host and neighboring communities of Padcal mine, the company’s gold-and-copper operations in this province.
A P3.61-million rehabilitation of a slope protection wall in Itogon’s Sitio Samoyao, Brgy. Ampucao, led the three projects delivered during the second quarter which amounted to a total of P5.95 million. The two other projects were a slope protection wall constructed in Sitio Upper Camp, also in Brgy. Ampucao, to the tune of P1.25 million, and a P1.1-million box culvert in Tuba’s Sitio Alang, Brgy. Camp 3.
Jamal Agustin, who monitors the infra projects being implemented by Philex Mining through its Community Relations (ComRel) Dept., said the slope protection wall in Sitio Samoyao had been destroyed by a typhoon, and had to be rehabilitated by the company, which had also built the original wall.
He added that between January and March, Philex Mining delivered 22 infra projects worth P9.88 million, foremost of which were a 379-meter long farm-to-market road with pavement widening in Camp 3’s Sitio Bastian, that amounted to P1.49 million, and the 44-meter two-bench grouted riprap built at a cost of P1.23 million in Brgy. Ampucao’s Sitio Catcatbal.
“These projects that we have so far delivered this year are part of the company’s commitment to continue helping its outlying communities through the implementation of the needed infrastructure,” Aurora Dolipas, ComRel manager at Padcal mine, said.
Padcal mine has Camp 3 and Ampucao for its host barangays, while its neighboring barangays consist of Camp 1 and Ansagan (both in Tuba) and Dalupirip (Itogon). These five barangays are collectively called outlying communities.
Dolipas said Philex Mining had allotted P81.53 million for its 2016 community-development projects under the Social Development and Management Program (SDMP), which includes health, education, livelihood, and public infrastructure.
In its revised and final 2016 report submitted to government regulators, Philex Mining also had set aside P16.31 million (P33 million including 2015 backlog) for the Information, Education and Communications (IEC) campaign as well as P10.87 million for the Development of Mining Technology and Geosciences (DMTG).
This brought to P108.71 million or P110 million (including the P1.3 million intended for the company’s Poro Point Installation, in San Fernando, La Union) the total budget allocation for the 2016 SDMP, IEC, and DMTG. The total amount was 1.5 percent of Philex Mining’s total operating expenses of P7.3 billion in 2015.
SDMP eats up 75 percent of the required fund allocation while IEC gets 15 percent and, DMTG, 10 percent.
For 2017, Philex Mining has allocated a total of P110.48 million (including for Poro Point) for its SDMP, IEC, and DMTG.
Dolipas said these programs are being implemented by Philex Mining with the cooperation of and after a series of consultations with the concerned stakeholders. She added, “Our host and neighboring villages have been our active partners in community development throughout our more than six decades of responsible mining.”
By HENT
