Wednesday, August 27, 2008 Philex ensures help for landslide victims' kin
MANAGEMENT of Philex Mining Corporation has assured it would provide all the assistance to families of the two workers who were buried alive at the company's open pit mine at the height of Typhoon Karen last week.
Lawyer Eduardo Aratas, head of Philex's legal division, said the company would answer to all the expenses the victims and their families incurred. The amount given was not immediately ascertained, but Aratas said this would cover the wake and funeral expenses, insurance and the transportation cost to the victims' hometowns.
Last Friday, rescuers recovered the bodies of Ernesto Paduca and Albert Caballero from the mud. The two served as watchers at the subsidence area of the open pit mines. Both are contractual workers of the company.
Aratas said the victims will be brought to their hometowns on Wednesday.
The Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau claimed the landslide was not due to lapses of Philex, but was triggered by the heavy downpour.
Typhoon Karen left six dead due to landslides when it battered the region last week. The two deaths from Philex were not included in the official reports. (JC)
