BY KAROL ANNE M. ILAGAN

BOAC, Marinduque – The 1996 mine tailings accident here still stands as the worst in Philippine history, but Leo Jasareno of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) says there is an upside to this tale.

The chief of the MGB’s Mining Tenements and Management Division, Jasareno says the accident, which saw Boac River choking on some three million tons of mine tailings, somehow defined the new provisions in the then year-old Mining Act. Thus, the law’s implementing rules and regulations (issued in late 1996), included the establishment of a contingent liability and rehabilitation fund for the physical and social rehabilitation of mine affected areas. Too, unlike in the past, each mining stage – from exploration to mine closure – now features work programs for environmental protection.

"Those are the good values from Marcopper, lessons learned from a negative experience," says Jasareno. "And one of DENR’s (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) approach is that we cannot be successful in convincing non-believers (of mining) unless we address the legacies of the past."

An industry that poses considerable environmental and health risks should welcome the new, more stringent rules that can only help its less-than-pristine image. Yet many say only a cleanup of the mess left behind by Marcopper Mining Corp. in Marinduque could convince them that the benefits brought by mining far outweigh its drawbacks.

Here in Marinduque, news that Gov. Jose Antonio Carrion may now be open to the idea of resuming mining operations on the island has already upset many residents in the affected towns of Boac, Mogpog, and Sta. Cruz. Asks fisher Wilson Manuba of Sta. Cruz: "Hindi pa ba tayo natuto sa ginawa ng Marcopper (Haven’t we learned from Marcopper yet)?"

Provincial administrator Lord Allan Jay Velasco, however, says that the governor is considering mining "only if it’s responsible mining." Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) chief Urbano Pilar also explains the governor’s stance by saying that "the dream of a good future, (to) help eliminate poverty in the province will always be there."

Adds Pilar: "If the Marcopper problem can be fixed – all cases resolved – I see no reason why we won’t give mining a chance as long as it’s operated properly."

Action plan on three-year ‘standby’

Unfortunately, the problem is far from being "fixed." In truth, despite several studies that show toxic materials left by Marcopper in three towns, Boac River seems to be the sole focus of most of the cleanup plans that have been suggested. A sub task force that was supposed to study, prioritize, and come up with an action plan based on the 2005 recommendations of a US research team has also been on standby for the last three years, largely because the task force it is under keeps on changing chiefs.

The undersecretary supposed to head Task Force Marcopper is replaced whenever there is a new DENR secretary. Between 2004 and 2007, the DENR has had six different bosses.

The nongovernmental group Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC) points out as well that before the US team’s recommendations are implemented, these have to be first presented to the people of Marinduque, who, along with local government units, would then decide on which cleanup measures to take. MACEC executive secretary Miguel Magalang says this step remains undone.

Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) chief Danilo Querijero himself says, "The local government unit is still in the stage of coordination. We’re soliciting assistance on how we can work this out."

That Marinduqueños are losing patience over the sluggish pace of things is not only because many of them have been having health problems that medical experts suspect can be traced to the toxic mine waste around them. It’s also because they have heard that the U.S. researchers who had studied mining’s effects on the province had reported potential instabilities in several of Marcopper’s mine structures. According to the researchers, these "pose significant threat" to Marinduque’s residents and ecosystem.

Experts commissioned by Placer Dome had also noted the high possibility of both Tapian Pit (which leaked in 1996 and filled Boac River with mine tailings) and the Maguila-Guila siltation dam (which burst in 1993 and smothered Mogpog River with silt) breaking down, thus spilling more mine waste into the rivers and villages below.

"Hindi man kami makatulog sa gabi pag may ulan, may phobia na kami," says Jocelyn Macunat, 53, whose family was among the victims of the 1993 Mogpog River flood, which submerged some 21 barangays. "Pag bumagyo lalo o lumindol, mapapabilis ang bigay ng tambak niyan she says of the Maguila-guila Dam. Doon kami takot, dahil baka maulit na naman yung dati.

MACEC’s Magalang says that one of the dams in question in Boac has a catchment area of 34 million cubic meters. Boac River can hold only about 11 million cubic meters of material. If that dam were to give way, wonders Magalang, "where would the 23 million cubic meters go?"

"It has been reported over and over that these dams pose danger," he says. "Typhoons have become even stronger now, but still nothing has been done."

MGB officials, though, say that based on the bureau’s most recent inspection – done just last June 19 — Marcopper’s mining structures generally do not pose immediate danger.

"In general, the dams are competent," says MGB Regional Director Rolando de Jesus. But he allows, "(The) Maguila-Guila siltation dam needs proper maintenance."

De Jesus says the MGB has already advised Marcopper to do whatever is necessary to address the negative findings immediately. The PCIJ sought comments from Marcopper, but the company’s officer-in-charge Bert Cuarteron declined PCIJ’s request for an interview, saying there is nothing new to the issue and that MGB has "all the information."

Submerged tailings still pose risks

A typhoon, earthquake, or even unusually heavy rainfall, however, would not only potentially weaken the mine’s structures further. Indeed, environmental experts say anything that can cause a disturbance in the rivers of Mogpog and Boac, as well as in Calancan Bay in Sta. Cruz, could result in the submerged toxic mining wastes there to resurface and make these waters and surrounding areas unsafe.

Magalang quotes the DENR as saying that once the tailings in Boac River are disturbed, oxidation may occur and cause fish kills.

In Mogpog, residents who have to cross the river already complain of chronic skin lesions and the darkening of the skin on their toes. Aside from containing silt from the 1993 dam spill, Mogpog River was also used by Marcopper "as a disposal site for the acidic liquid of the mine tailings," says environmental scientist Emelina Regis in a 2006 paper on the impact of acid mine drainage on the river and the surrounding community.

Calancan Bay, meanwhile, was the recipient of about 200 million tons of mine tailings dumped there by Marcopper between 1975 and 1991. And here in Boac, data from the Placer Dome Technical Services Ltd. (PDTS) — set up to manage the remediation arrangements after Placer Dome Inc. left – say that there are still some 703,228 cubic meters of mine tailings in the Makulapnit and Boac river system, with about 75 percent of this figure in the dredge channel. The rest are scattered throughout the two rivers.

The environment department’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 2006 report on Boac River says that water samples taken from it generally passed the standards set by the DENR for acceptable levels of parameters (cadmium, dissolved copper, dissolved oxygen, and pH).

"The levels of these parameters either improved or had no significant change throughout the years 2000 to 2006," says the report. But it noted that the concentration of lead in 2006 increased as compared to 2005 results, with two stations failing the DENR standard.