Zambales anti-mining group's petition junked

SANTA CRUZ, Zambales: Anti- mining residents of this town opposing what they claim as destructive mining operations suffered another setback recently when the Court of Appeals (CA) rejected their petition to reverse the lower court’s ruling.

Concerned Citizens of Santa Cruz (CCOS) chairman Benito Molino told The Manila Times he received a letter recently advising him that the appellate court had denied their petition.

In a decision dated December 14, 2017 that Associate Justice Renato Francisco of the CA’s 14th Special Division wrote, the court denied for lack of merit CCOS’ motion for reconsideration on its petition for a Writ of Kalikasan, Application for a Temporary Environmental Protection Order ( TEPO), and Urgent Motion for Ocular Inspection and affirmed the lower court’s resolution of May 22, 2017.

“[ Petitioner made] No new meritorious arguments [ and] merely rehashed arguments which had already been exhaustively discussed and squarely passed upon by this court,” the decision stated.

The court cited in its ruling that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( DENR) under former secretary Gina Lopez ordered on February 8, 2017 the cancellation of Mineral Production Sharing Agreements ( MPSAs) of the respondent mining companies.

Molino posted on his Facebook account that the DENR issued the closure order like the ban on open pit mining when Lopez was at the helm and they were confident that her decision was based on the mandate of the DENR, which is to protect and utilize natural resources for the common good.

He said current DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu is doing the opposite when he lifted the ban on open- pit mining and welcomed foreign investors to explore the country’s natural resources,

“With the present DENR leadership, our environment is again bleeding, thus the CCOS will continue to use all means to protect our environment and our human rights,” Molino said.

“We will file a motion for reconsideration at the Supreme Court and continue to expose the violation of environmental laws and destruction of our environment and livelihood,” he added.

Molino said his group will continue to maintain the anti- mining campout in front of the DENR’s main office in Quezon City.