UNDERVIEW

Mike Guimbatan Jt.
Cancer causing asbestos found in Lepanto dump

MANKAYAN, Benguiet -- "They dug our mountains for gold and pay their taxes in Makati then they dump six truckloads of cancer-causing not from the mine waste but transported from their Makati main office.”

This was said by Mayor Manalo B. Galuten of this fourth class town which is host to one of the country's biggest gold producers. Galuten has reasons to deplore the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company for putting the lives and future of an entire community in danger for dumping a cancer causing hazardous substance in the company landfill.

Galuten in an interview said he has in his possession a laboratory analysis from New Zealand which confirms that suspected asbestos containing material dumped in sitio Sapid, Mankayan has ten percent Amosite content.
“I want the company to totally clean up their garbage and be responsible for whatever health effect it may have in the future”, Galuten said. “The proper cleanup and disposal of the dumped debris should be done in a safe manner consistent with DENR regulations and safety requirements,” he said.

Amosite variety of asbestos according to the US Environmental Protection Agency was used primarily as a fire retardant in thermal insulation products in old structures like in ceiling tiles but is now banned in most countries especially because this form of asbestos is highly friable.

Friable means it crumbles easily when damaged, therefore releasing airborne fibers which can then be inhaled by those in the vicinity of the material causing a cancer form called mesothelioma, a rare type of cancer that most often occur in the thin membrane lining of the lungs, chest, abdomen and heart.

Residents reported around six dump trucks surreptitiously unloading what appears to be construction debris from ceiling panels and electrical insulations. LCMC accepted the dumping but not the hazardous content of the waste.

“They (LCMC) got our gold and replaced it with toxic waste”, Galuten lamented. He admitted that the mining firm gave employment and improved the local economy but it should not justify the dumping of hazardous wastes. Worst he said was that the waste that did not even come from mining operations but imported from other LCMC operational areas.

The 74-year-old mayor might have finished only grade six but he said he can not compromise the health of his people with economic benefits. “I want the company to totally clean their dump and be ready to accept responsibility to whatever sickness the asbestos might cause to exposed residents in the future”, the mayor said. “We will file a case to set and example for large companies not to violate local laws or belittle their host communities”, he said.

The mayor said they will ask the DENR to do their job and file appropriate criminal or administrative sanctions against the mining firm. The dumping was first noticed in April 2008 when residents reported that around six ten wheeler trucks dumped what appears to be construction debris in upper tram, Sapid, Mankayan. Local police led by Senior Insp. Fernando S. Botangen in their investigation report confirmed the dumping of dirty white substances in black cellophane bags that were immediately covered with soil by a pay loader.

Sapid barangay council quoted witnesses as saying the wastes were dumped by Shipside Trucking, an LCMC subsidiary, on April 10 and in 2007 in Sitio Tagumbao, Upper Tram in Barangay Sapid.

Sapid council through Barangay Resolution No. 34-2008 dated April 12, requested LCMC to “cease unloading or dumping of the waste (asbestos)” in their barangay and to relocate the said wastes to other sites.

LCMC resident manager engineer Magellan Bagayao admitted responsibility. to the municipal council saying the wastes which are pads and cushions came from the company’s Makati City office that was renovated. Bagayao in his letter to Mankayan Vice Mayor Paterno Dacanay dated May 7, 2008 , said in the past 70 years, “the company is committed in the protection of the environment…the incident in Sapid will not be repeated”.

The mining firm then employed the services of Servo-Treat Phils., a DENR Region I accredited company to conduct repacking, transport, treatment and disposal of the suspected and presumed Asbestos containing materials at their treatment facility in Urdaneta, Pangasinan.

Local officials agreed with the treatment plan of Lepanto provided they will witness the hauling and transport. Unfortunately, municipal and barangay officials were not informed of the hauling except for two who accidentally learned about the hauling. Councilor Mendoza and barangay councilman Calapen were told that hauling will resume the following day but when they returned the next day, the whole area was already back filled with soil.

Sapid residents and officials later learned that only about one and a half load of dirt was hauled as compared to at least six dump trucks that unloaded the construction debris.

Servo-treat President and CEO Dr. Eva F. Vertucio reported to have hauled 8.785 metric tons of soil and construction debris last October 14, 2008 and these were accordingly treated on October 19, 2008. The report also mentioned that the materials are “non-friable asbestos containing materials”.

Because of the increasing concern of residents, DENR-Cordillera officials initiated a joint meeting whereby parallel sampling was agreed by the local government and Lepanto. Ironically, government agencies employed a private laboratory while the private mining company employed a government laboratory.

The DENR’s Regional Environment Management Bureau together with the local government brought samples to the Saint Louis University laboratory in Baguio city and was shown a 50 percent asbestos.

Meanwhile, the LCMC brought their sample to the Department of Labor and Employment’s Occupational Safety and Health Center in Manila . A certification from DOLE-OSHC Exec. Director Dr. Dulce P. Estrella-Gust in her February 4, 2009 letter said all the samples analyzed do not contain any type of asbestos based on their laboratory method using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.

Despite the LCMC’s justification, the DENR’s Cordillera Mines and Geosciences Bureau recommended the hauling out of the remaining covered dump witnessed by the local officials and residents.

Because of conflicting laboratory results, DENR representatives agreed with Mayor Galuten to invite a third party preferably from an international laboratory licensed by the National Credentialing Agency (NCA) to undertake another test. Meanwhile, the hauling out of the presumed asbestos containing debris was put on hold while awaiting the laboratory result from an internationally accredited company.

Globecare DENR-Registered Hazardous Waste Service Provider was then commissioned to take samples. GlobeCare representative Danilo Javier took samples last February 20, 2009 witnessed by all stakeholders because sampling was done after a community meeting presided by Vice Mayor Dacanay attended by Lepanto mining officials, municipal and barangay officials, DENR representatives and residents.

The laboratory analysis result was released to Mayor Galuten on February 27, 2009 by GlobeCare Managing Director Joseph Gregory H. How. The test result analyzed at an NCA laboratory proved a ten percent Amosite content. “The material has been confirmed to contain 10% Amosite (brown asbestos), and is therefore regulated as a hazardous waste…”