The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has promised to restore Boac and Mogpog rivers in Marinduque, which were affected by one of the “worst mining disasters in Philippine history” more than a decade ago.
DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu said it is time for the government to spearhead the massive cleanup and rehabilitation of the two rivers for the benefit of the Marinduque residents who are negatively affected by tailing spills from the Mining Corporation site in 1993 and 1996.
“We made a plan to restore all the rivers in the Philippines, including the Boac and Mogpog rivers. We will clean it and we have a way of doing that using non-government resources,” Cimatu was quoted in a statement.
In 1996, Marcopper’s Taipa pit spilled approximately 1.6 million cubic meters of toxic mine tailings which resulted in the flooding of nearby villages and poisoned the Boac River.
A flooding incident also occurred three years prior to the Taipan pit spilling. The firm’s Maguila-guila dam also flooded the town of Mogpog where two children drowned in the mine waste. It killed the Mogpog river with its toxic mine tailings.
“The environmental damages and unresolved issues brought about by the Marcopper mining operation in Marinduque for several decades now must be put to an end,” Cimatu said.
Cimatu added that he will immediately issue a department administrative order after the Marinduque local government sends a formal request to place the two rivers in rehabilitation.
The rehabilitation would include the dredging of the two rivers by a private contractor without any cost to the government.
Cusi explained that the private contractor will shoulder the restoration expenses in exchange for “whatever minerals that he may recover, provided he pays the corresponding four percent excise tax.”
Other provinces with administrative orders regarding the restoration of silted rivers are Zambales, Oriental Mindoro, and Negros Occidental.
Cimatu said these orders were pursuant to a joint memorandum circular of DENR, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Transportation (DOT), aiming to protect and restore to their natural state and water flow the heavily silted river channels in the country.”
Cimatu concluded that he already approved an initial P5 million funding for the construction of the 90-meter-wide gabion dam across the Mogpog River.
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