TUBA, Benguet – Convinced that Philex Mining Corp. has played its part well in community development, economic progress and environmental protection, some 200 cadets, officers, teachers and security personnel from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) gave a thumbs-up to the company’s commitment to responsible mining during a recent visit to the mine camp.
“I now have a different outlook of mining, as I learned a lot after talking to some residents here and seeing a sustainable community built by Philex Mining,” Aurelio Torres, 21, a representative from the visitors’ Army group dubbed “Echo,” said in Filipino on Nov. 12. He said that whereas he had relied on the anti-mining activists for his views on the industry, he now witnessed the benefits being derived from responsible mining.
Torres was one of the 158 cadets who came to the mine camp of Philex Mining’s Padcal operations two Saturdays ago and spent the whole day doing a familiarization tour, talking to some residents in the host towns of Tuba and Itogon, giving away books to students, and lecturing about safety measures during disasters. They were joined by six PMA officers, six faculty members, and 16 security personnel and drivers.
Paul Bronson Ciano, manager of Security Dept. at Padcal and a PMA alumnus himself, said the faculty of the military school’s Humanities Dept. had chosen to visit Philex-Padcal, where the graduating PMA cadets could witness and learn how the gold-and-copper producer built its community and stayed true to its corporate social responsibility.
“We are grateful that you have appreciated the sustainability of this community, as well as shared your thoughts and learning about responsible mining,” he stressed. “We are now one in believing that there really is life in mining.”
Before making a tour of the mine camp and carrying out the rest of their one-day activity, the visitors, headed by Lt. Col. Agnes Linette Flores, made a courtesy call on Manuel Agcaoili, SVP at Philex Mining and Padcal resident manager, who explained to them how Padcal provides free housing, utilities, and health-care services to its employees, as well as the benefits granted to its other stakeholders. “We also have livelihood programs for the employees and the host communities,” he added.
A 23-year-old cadet belonging to the Air Force group (Foxtrot), Nijar Basiri, who hails from Jolo, in Mindanao, said responsible mining exists, contrary to what many PMA cadets had thought based on the preaches of the so-called anti-mining activists.
Basiri and Torres also joined the rest of the delegation in turning over a number of books and other reading materials to the Saint Louis High School – Philex, in Itogon’s Brgy. Ampucao. They also discussed to and shared with the students and community leaders their knowledge and training on emergency-response management.
“We appreciate the help that you have extended to the community—the social and economic aspects that have improved the lives of the people in your host and neighboring villages,” Frederick Macalintal, 23, from the Navy group (Bravo), said. “We must help each other. We encourage the rest of the mining industry to emulate what Philex Mining has been doing as a responsible miner.”
By HENT
