Governor denies mining is back in Marinduque
LUCENA CITY—Outgoing Marinduque Gov. Presbitero Velasco Jr. strongly disputed the reports of any approved or ongoing mining projects in the island province.
“This is to clarify and assure the people of Marinduque that there is no approved or ongoing mining project in any part of the province,” Velasco said in a post in Filipino on Facebook on Saturday.
He emphasized that since he became governor in 2019, he had never issued any permit or supported any kind of mining operations in the province.
Velasco said he made the clarification “due to the spread of fake news” claiming that he is involved in mining and that there is ongoing mining activity in the province.
“There is no mining in Marinduque,” Velasco, a former Supreme Court justice, stressed.
One of the country’s biggest mines, Marcopper Mining Corp., used to operate on the island until it was shut down in 1996 after causing a massive waste spill considered the worst mining disaster in the Philippines.
Velasco, who was defeated in his reelection bid last May 12, said the information circulating on social media was false and malicious.
However, he did not identify the source of the incorrect information about the supposed mining activities.
Maliciously labeled
According to Velasco, some excavation activities on the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) road construction project in Gasan town and the Bagtingon Small Reservoir Irrigation Project by the National Irrigation Administration “have been wrongly and maliciously labeled as mining areas.”
“These are legal and regulated land uses for development projects and should not be mistaken for commercial or large-scale mining,” he explained.
In his post, Velasco attached certifications from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the DPWH, both dated May 15, stating that there are no mining operations in Marinduque.
Marcopper used to operate on the island since the late 1960s until its shutdown in 1996 after one of its drainage tunnels gave way, unleashing about 200 million tons of mine tailings into Boac River.
At least 36 people died from heavy metal contamination caused by the mine wastes. The spill, which also left Boac River virtually dead, is considered the country’s worst industrial pollution disaster.
Presbitero and his son Lord Allan Velasco, the representative of the province’s lone congressional district and a former speaker of the House of Representatives, switched places in this year’s local elections after the son ended his three-year term in Congress.
However, they were both defeated in the just-concluded local elections—the older Velasco to Rey Salvacion (Independent) and Lord Allan to Mel Go (PDP-Laban).
Lord Allan is seeking a manual recount of votes after losing to Go by a margin of just over 200 votes.
