Philex pays P189M in ‘environmental obligations’
Philex Mining Corp. Friday paid P188.6 million in fines that the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) slapped on the company for “causing water pollution” and “impeding the flow of water” in the Balog Creek and Agno River.
This resulted from heavy rains that created a sinkhole in August 2012 in one of the Padcal mine’s tailings ponds.
Through the sinkhole, nontoxic water and tailings were released to the nearby creek in Benguet, which converges with the river in Pangasinan.
Based on a five-page PAB order dated May 26, and which Philex said it received last June 5, the so-called “environmental obligations” rang up to P30.6 million for causing water pollution in the two bodies of water for 76 days.
As for impeding the flow of water, Philex was fined P43.4 million related to Balog Creek and P114.8 million related to Agno River—at 217 days and 574 days, respectively.
The toll for each violation per body of water is P200,000 daily.
“We’ve always expressed our commitment to abide by government rules, including on environmental protection, for our smooth operations and continued service to our country and to all our other stakeholders,” Philex Mining CEO and president Eulalio Austin Jr. said in a statement.
“We will today (Friday) pay our obligation to the government,” he said.
The PAB’s findings resulted from tests made by a joint multipartite monitoring team that collected effluent and water samples from the creek and the river last March, and which were analyzed for heavy metals and suspended solids.
Also, the order mentioned that based on an assessment of the creek and the river made by the Environmental Management Bureau and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau last February, it was found that the amount of sediments had been “considerably reduced” as these were continually being carried into the San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam.
