Aussie firm denies bribing Nueva Vizcaya board members

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — An Australian mining company behind the controversial gold and copper mining venture in the remote mountain village of Didipio in Kasibu town has denied bribing provincial board members in exchange for their endorsement of the project.

"Anti-mining leaders, who lost the intellectual debate, should not engage in hypocritical character assassination against the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Nueva Vizcaya who voted unanimously to support a future of sustainable development through responsible mining," said Jose Leviste Jr., chairman of Climax Arimco Mining Corp. (CAMC-Philippines).

Leviste, whose mining group is one of the prime movers of the country’s mining industry, said talk about their company’s bribing the board members in exchange for the endorsement is "stupid, baseless and malicious."  

Leviste said the "charge is as stupid as it is malicious, especially since these anti-mining activists funded by foreign NGOs know very well that they are lying and they know it."

"They also conveniently forget that the vote they are maligning was a unanimous vote, a vote that crossed partylines," he added.

Last week, the 13-member provincial board unanimously endorsed the proposed Philippine-Australian mining venture almost a month after the Kasibu municipal council, in a majority vote, rejected it.

"We categorically deny all their false allegations as they are baseless hallucinations grounded on (the anti-mining activists’) own self-induced fear and paranoia. Our company does not engage in practices that violate our own professional and corporate standards of honesty, integrity and transparency," said Leviste in a statement e-mailed to The STAR.

Earlier, the Catholic Church-led anti-mining advocates described the provincial board’s endorsement of the Didipio project as "illegal and immoral."

They accused the provincial board of "disregarding" the decision of the Kasibu municipal council by voting in favor of the Didipio project, which they described to be "anti-people, anti-environment and anti-development."