PALAWAN governor Joel Reyes yesterday said he welcomes the
Sandiganbayan probe on his alleged role in the illegal issuance of a two-year
small-scale mining permit to Platinum Group Metals Inc. which had reportedly
violated the terms of its previous permit through over-extraction and use of
heavy equipment.
Reyes said the issues raised have been answered before as he
denied the accusations against him and Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board
member Andronico Baguyo in the graft case filed by Ombudsman last Feb. 4.
Reyes said all mining related activities are closely
scrutinized before approval by a multipartite monitoring team composed of people
from the Department of Environment, a non-governmental organization, the PMRB,
the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, and the Environmental Management Bureau.
He said the mysterious resurrection of the cases happened
after the PMRB of Palawan sued two mining firms, which he did not identify, for
mineral theft. Reyes said workers of the two firms - reportedly owned by only
one person - were caught illegally transporting P1 million worth of aggregates
and filling materials. "We shall seek an immediate and speedy trial to finally
put an end to these malicious and fabricated allegations. Hopefully, the
investigation will unmask the true perpetrators behind this blackmail," Reyes
said.
Reyes and Baguyo posted bail of P30,000 each last Tuesday after the
Sandiganbayan issued warrants for their arrest.
