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Rapu Rapu Watching Brief: Philippines Police Confiscate Independent Water Samples at Australian Minesite
Tensions are growing on Rapu Rapu island after Lafayette denies responsibility for the latest fish kill on the island and efforts by a Greenpeace employee to independently test water samples around Lafayette's mining operation were prevented by Philippines police.
Philippines police held Greenpeace Philippines employee David Andrade by gunpoint, detained and searched him and confiscated water samples he was in the process of gathering on unfenced public land near the Rapu Rapu mine. It is less than three weeks since the company was permitted to reopen the mine on a ‘trial’ basis following the confirmation of major flaws and oversights in the original mining operations.
The Philippines government is under major pressure from international investors and the Australian government to allow the mine to complete its test run and reopen- despite evidence that the company is not fit to operate the mine. This is in contrast to community opposition, which includes recent injunctions that have been lodged to restrain the company from resuming operations on the basis of inadequate environmental protection. The decision to allow the mine to reopen was contrary to the recommendations of a Commission appointed by the Philippines President to investigate the mine’s operations.
The Mineral Policy Institute is issuing a watching brief on Lafayette due to the serious and ongoing environmental and human rights issues at the site and urges the Philippines government to uphold its citizen rights in the face of growing investor and international pressure.
For more information contact:
In Australia MPI Executive Director Techa Beaumont on +61 (0)428 970 434
Or
Von Hernandez, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Campaigns Director, +63 917 526 3050 Lea Guerrero, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Media Campaigner, +63 916 374 4969
Scroll down for additonal background on the water sampling incident. Further documentation of other issues is also availalbe. MPI has a background doucment available summarising major concerns over the companies operations. Copies of the various Philippines government reports, and information on the case filed against Lafayette, as well as an MPI background document are available on request. Please email advocacy@mpi.org.au or call the MPI number above.
MPI WATCHING BRIEF ON LAFAYETTE MINING LIMITED: HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS AT LAFAYETTE/ RAPU RAPU MINE
MPI is issuing a watching brief on the operations of Lafayette Mining Limited at their Rapu Rapu island operations in the Philippines.
MPI expresses grave concerns over the current militarisation of Rapu Rapu Island due to Lafayette's mining activities. Evidence suggests that ongoing environmental problems are being suppressed and that the current circumstances will lead to ongoing human rights violations at the mine site.
Furthermore MPI condemns efforts to prevent verification of the company’s operation as a violation of people’s basic human rights. We highlight the urgent need to prevent potential future violations of human rights of the people of Rapu Rapu island and the surrounding areas including:
-the rights of local people to be consulted and participate in decisions that affect them,
- the right to livelihood and right to a healthy environment
-freedom of movement, which in this case must include the ability to freely monitor and independently assess the mine’s impacts on their environment.
MPI also condemns the role of foreign (including Australian) investors and the Australian government in pushing for the reopening of a mining operation that was shown to be grossly irresponsible without corresponding action to guarantee proper and transparent environmental safeguards or the protection of local people’s rights. The Australian government has exerted significant pressure on the Philippines, going as far as issuing a public statement in late May urging them to allow the mine to reopen. Public protests occurred in late May outside the Australian embassy in Manila in response to the Australian ambassadors comments urging the Philippines government to permit the mine to reopen as soon as possible.
“Australian government pressure on the Philippines government to allow Lafayette to continue operating is an immoral defense of Australian corporate interests at the expense of the environment and rights of local people. Companies such as Lafayette, who have shown to be irresponsible actors should be held accountable, rather than supported by the Australian government,” stated Mineral Policy Institute Executive Director Techa Beaumont
The Australian government has been exposed in the past for lobbying on behalf of Australian companies in Indonesia to allow mining in protected forests and to bring security forces in to quell community opposition to Australian mining operations. “The Australian government has resisted calls for regulatory measures to ensure that Australian mining companies operate according to basic international standards in their overseas operations, despite mounting evidence of Australian mining company involvement in environmentally destructive, socially irresponsible activities, and corrupt conduct.”
Additional Background Information
_______________________________________________________________________
Lafayette started its 30 day test run on July 11, 2006. On July 13, 2006 a leak, which the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources later dismissed as a minor incident, occurred during operations. On July 21, 2006 residents reported a fish kill in Mirikpitik creek in Rapu Rapu Island. Lafayette has dismissed the fish kill with allegations of sabotage.
Greenpeace was conducting water sampling on the 25th of July as a way of validating recent reports of a fish kill which occurred in the area last week and which Lafayette claimed to be a case of sabotage.
Greenpeace employee David Andrade was detained and questioned by police and unidentified security personnel in Brgy. Pagcolbon, Rapu Rapu island at 8:45AM 25 July 2006 after he was apprehended for obtaining water samples from Mirikpitik creek. Two companions, a local guide and a boat man, were taken with him. They were then brought first to Pagcolbon's town hall then to the police headquarters in Rapu Rapu town and released shortly after noon of the same day. Police did not identify under what charge he was being held.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia Campaigns Director Von Hernandez made the flowing statement in a press release on 26th July 2006: "Greenpeace condemns the police detention of David Andrade, a Greenpeace employee who was apprehended, illegally detained, illegally searched, and harassed by police while obtaining water samples from Mirikpitik creek in Brgy. Pagcolbon in Rapu Rapu island early yesterday morning."
"Greenpeace was conducting environmental water sampling in the island to validate recent reports of a fish kill which occurred in the area last week, and which Lafayette claims to be a case of sabotage. Andrade was collecting water samples from the said creek when two policemen 'invited' him at gun point for questioning at Pagcolbon's town hall where he was harassed by police, military, and several private security personnel who wore no proper uniform nor identification, and who refused to identify themselves. Andrade was then illegally searched, his water samples and sampling sheets confiscated, and was escorted by armed policemen to their detachment in Rapu Rapu town. Police did not identify under what charge he was being held. The area where he was collecting samples was unfenced public land."
"Lafayette and the DENR claim full transparency in the conduct of Lafayette's mining operation particularly during the 30 day test run which the DENR approved last 11 July 2005. But this is obviously not the case. Rapu Rapu island today, even public areas outside the boundaries of Lafayette mine, is apparently a high security zone, tightly guarded not just by the police and military, but also by private security personnel. Monitoring and inspection by independent parties concerned about the negative effects of the mining operation is heavily discouraged and even prevented."
"The heavy police security deployed to protect Lafayette's operations, and the prevention of independent monitoring bodies to conduct sampling bodes ill for Rapu Rapu and nearby coastal communities. In this connection, the government's intention is obvious: this mining operation is being protected regardless of the consequences it will inflict on the island's surrounding marine environment, and the communities who benefit from these seas."
"Instead of defending a mining operation which is damaging and detrimental to the island's fragile marine ecosystem, the DENR should stay true to its mandate of upholding our citizens' rights to live in a safe and healthy environment. The public has a right to know what real impacts Lafayette's mining operations have on the environment, and that right should never be thwarted by police and military harassment especially in the service of myopic corporate interests."
During its few months of operation, the mining company showed negligence with regard to its operations. (During the Rapu Rapu Fact-finding Commission hearings in April-May 2006, Lafayette officials in fact admitted that they mined "too fast, too soon" even while the mine's structural safeguards meant to minimize environmental damage were not yet completed.) As a result, after heavy rains in October 11 and 31, 2005, cyanide and other contaminants from the mine spilled into the sea and around the island, resulting in massive fish kills which Lafayette, to this day, continues to downplay.
Greenpeace and the Mineral Policy Institute maintain that pollution from Lafayette's mining operations will seriously damage Rapu Rapu and its surrounding fragile marine ecosystem. Acid mine drainage has already been confirmed on the mine lease area prior to the commencment of commercial operations. The waters of the Bicol region are acknowledged as the feeding grounds and migratory route of the whale shark, the largest fish in the sea. It is also home to five of the seven known marine turtles in the world, and its rich sea grass beds and mangroves, which make for a high marine biodiversity index, have turned the area into exceptionally rich fishing grounds for the region's fishermen. Rapu Rapu island is a dangerous place for a mine: not only is it situated along the country's typhoon belt, but also along a major fault, making it a high-risk area for mining catastrophes.
For more information, please contact:
Techa Beaumont
Executive Director
Workphone: +61 2 9557 9019
Mobile: +61 (0) 409 318 406
Created: 26 Jul 2006 | Last updated: 26 Jul 2006
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