Philex sustains reforestation, denies it felled trees in Itogon

ITOGON, Benguet - Philex Mining Corp. denied allegations it felled trees in this town for road construction, saying the areas concerned-covering 50 hectares have been undergoing reforestation by the company and its partners in environmental preservation and protection.

The company also lamented that people it had entered into agreements with regarding some reforestation projects, a leased lot, and purchased lots in the said town have the same accords with the government involving tree-planting activities.

“How this came to be is also our question,” Libby Ricafort, vice president of Philex Mining and resident manager of Padcal Operations, said in a letter to Baguio City’s Community Environment and Natural Resource Officer Edgardo Flor.

Ricafort was replying to a recent letter from Flor asking Philex Mining to submit a written position regarding the activities in Sitio Banao, part of Itogon’s Barangay Ampucao, after a complaint was sent to CENRO’s office in Pacdal, Baguio City.

Now it appears that some persons still entered into agreements with the government, through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources at the Cordillera Administrative Region for several tree-planting activities, he said, despite them having several contracts with Philex Mining already which is geared towards the purpose of regreening denuded mountains in the different parts of its host and neighboring communities.

Philex Mining had entered into a Family Base Reforestation Contract with a stakeholder on May 16, 2000, in connection with the company’s reforestation activities at 745ML, SitioBanao, and SitioSidweng and their surrounding areas, also in Barangay Ampucao purposely to significantly contribute in the government’s national greening program and help reforest barren mountains in order to restore the beauty of the places.

The company also has anexisting memorandum of agreement with a separate stakeholder for another reforestation project in the area, according to Ricafort’s letter to Flor, who is assigned at DENR-CAR.

Ricafort, meanwhile, clarified the parcel of land where the road constructed by Philex Mining in SitiosSidweng and Banao for access to a tailings pond it is building traverses a lot leased by the company from the heirs of the landowner and the lots it purchased from the heirs of another landowner.

This comes after a published article on Wednesday alleged that Philex Mining had used bulldozers to fell Benguetpine and gmelina trees to open a road of 1.5 kilometers in length and 6 meters in width at the Lower Agno Forest Watershed Reserve.

Ricafort said that in 1989, casual and contractual workers hired by Philex Mining started planting trees at the town’s Mini Hydro area, covering 745ML, Talnag, SitioSidweng, and SitoBanao.

In 1999, a family-based reforestation projects covering 20 hectares were awarded to two stakeholders. Between 2010 and 2012, another reforestation project covering 30 hectares within SitiosBanao and Sidweng was awarded to another stakeholder which was aimed at enhancing the state of the environment in the said place but they were surprised over the allegations of tree cutting when no such activity was undertaken in the area. – Dexter A. See