DENR suspends ECCs of 6 firms

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources cancelled yesterday the environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) of six companies, including four mining firms.

Environment Secretary Gina Lopez said the ECC of Austral-Asia was suspended because its operations caused negative effects to Mt. Hamiguitan, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the biodiversity in the area.

The mining firm operates in Sitio Salingcomot, Barangay Macambol in Mati City in Davao Oriental.

Lopez said the mining firm is “sandwiched” between two protected areas, referring to Mount Hamiguitan and Pujada Bay. “Because they don’t have a place to put their stockpile, species in the area are affected. It was also not indicated in the company’s environmental impact assessment how they intend to treat their stockpile,” she said.

The ECCs of Ipilan Nickel and Nickel Deposit Mining projects in Brooke’s Point in Palawan and Lupon Mining in Davao Oriental were cancelled after it lapsed.

The DENR suspended the ECC of Century Communities Corp., a property developer in Quezon City, for not complying with the requirements of a groundwater survey. The housing project is said to affect the La Mesa Eco-Watershed, another protected area.

Century reportedly failed to meet certain conditions of the ECC, including enhanced revised monitoring plan, ground modeling studies to assess water availability and ground water contamination.

Also suspended were the ECCs of Canadian extraction company MRL-Egerton Gold Philippines, which is engaged in gold mining in Lobo, Batangas, and Sacobia Sun Valley Resort in Mabalacat, Pampanga.              

The gold mining site covers 29,000 hectares. Environmentalists said waste generated by the mining firm is being drained into the rivers of Lobo.

Ipat Luna, DENR undersecretary for legal affairs, said Egerton also failed to come up with an environmental impact assessment, one of the requirements of the ECC.

Show cause order

Meanwhile, the DENR issued show cause orders against 11 other mining companies.

These are SMTC Chromite Mining and Trading, Mindanao Portland Cement Corp., Iron Ore Pelletizing Plant, Proposed Limestone, Pozzolan and Associate Minerals Quarry, Cement Plant and Power Plant, Bulalacao Coal Mining, Iron Ore Mining Corp., Smelting Plant, Wellex Area II Mining, Barobo Alluvial Gold Mining and Veneer Manufacturing expansion  projects.

Lopez said the companies should explain within seven days why they should not be fined and their ECCs cancelled.

“This move by the department is meant to promote social justice – that is using the land for the benefit of the majority or the common good,” Lopez said.

The DENR is reviewing hundreds of ECCs granted by previous governments, including those granted to mines, in a crackdown on environmental degradation. The Philippines is the world’s top nickel ore supplier.

An environmental audit of 41 other mining firms is expected go be completed in August.

Lopez said she would be released the results in January.

She said the issuance of ECCs is not a blanket for the operations of the companies’, operations, but ”just a planning tool.”