DENR to probe deadly mine for violations

ILOILO CITY — There may be environmental violations that led to the death of nine people in a coal mine owned by a subsidiary of DMCI Holdings Inc. on Semirara Island, Caluya town, Antique.

Jim Sampulna, Western Visayas regional director of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-6), emphasized there’s a need to find out whether or not Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) violated its Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

Earlier, there were speculations that heavy rainfall during the past few weeks caused the Panian open pit coal mine of SMPC to collapse.

“We’re not sure if it was the heavy rainfall, the excavation or there were other factors. That’s why we need to determine the cause of the landslide that killed the miners,” Sampulna told Manila Bulletin.

Sampulna pointed out that that when the same coal mine collapsed and killed five people in February 2013, one of the factors blamed was the fact that the Panian coal mine was below sea level. It was believed that the coal mine pit was absorbing seawater, which softened its walls and triggered the landslide.

It was noted that SMPC’s ECC was issued by the DENR Central Office in Metro Manila and not DENR-6 regional office in Iloilo City.

There’s also the issue the Department of Energy (DOE) is the lead government agency that has jurisdiction over Semirara Island after the Philippine government classified it as a coal mining reservation.

“Since it has been declared as coal mine area, people should not be living on Semirara Island,” exclaimed Sampulna.

But there is a community in Semirara Island; fishermen and their families are residing just outside the mining pits of SMPC.

Last October 2014, Semirara fisher folk complained to DENR-6 that SMPC allegedly expanded its mining operations without obtaining the necessary environmental permits.

They also claimed that SMPC’s operation has led to the contamination of the mangrove areas, the shoreline and the seawater.