Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Penalties for officials who neglect environment laws mulled
SENATOR Pilar Juliana "Pia" Cayetano on Tuesday said her committee on environment and natural resources will look into integrating a provision in the Mining Act of 1995 on imposing sanctions on government officials for failing to enforce safety measures for its implementation.
In a briefing after a hearing on the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, Cayetano noted that there is a big problem in its implementation.
"We have a basic law that provides for the general parameters of mining but we have a big problem in the implementation and there are still gaps in the provisions to ensure that adequate measures are in place to secure the health of the people and (preservation of) the environment," she said.
She cited the case of Lafayette Philippines Inc. in Rapu-Rapu Island in Albay whose two mine-tailing spills in October 2005 could have been the result of the government's failure to monitor the compliance of mining firms with laws on environmental protection.
Cayetano noted that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) allowed the continuing operation of Lafayette, an Australian-finance mining firm, "a mere six days after the first incident" of the spill.
"We are also looking at penalties for erring officials. There have been a lot of testimonies to that effect that government officials did not do their job. If there is a blatant violation, gross ignorance of the law, gross negligence, these are the grounds for penalizing government officials," Cayetano said.
She also dismissed the immediate repeal of RA 7942 as pushed by environmentalists and other sectors like the independent fact-finding commission tasked to investigate the mine-tailing spills caused by Lafayette but said the government, through the DENR, should ensure that mining companies are indeed complying with environmental laws.
"Let's not hasten the repeal of the mining law without balancing the social impact. Mining itself can be acceptable in the country provided that all the parameters that will ensure the safety of the people and minimal damage to the environment are in place," the senator said.
Cayetano, meanwhile, got irked when National Economic and Development Authority Director General Romulo Neri, Chamber of Mines President Benjamin Philip Romualdez, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila and ranking DENR officials, specifically from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, failed to attend the hearing. (REC/Sunnex)
(June 14, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
