MINE SPILLS: New Lafayette execs start own inquiry

The new management of Lafayette’s Rapu-Rapu project will conduct its own inquiry into the two mine spills last year, starting with a water chemical analysis.

Water samplings in Rapu-Rapu will be taken by Lafayette’s team tomorrow in a parallel test with an independent team led by the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Lafayette chairman and president Carlos Dominguez immediately agreed and promised full cooperation when asked by Sorsogon officials if the UP-DOST team could go to the Rapu-Rapu project in Albay to get water samples.

Dominguez held a series of meetings with government and Church officials, and private sector representatives of Sorsogon and Albay.

Dominguez said he wants to know what really happened and why and who were accountable so he could make the proper decisions to prevent a repeat of the mine spills and protect the surrounding communities.

Water samples off Sorsogon facing Rapu-Rapu will also be taken to help resolve issues about fish being killed as a result of mercury contamination. Lafayette does not use mercury in its operations.

Dominguez said it is important to settle this issue so accountability could be properly established and preventive measures taken in case the mercury is traced to other sources.

"We cannot be the convenient whipping boy for everything that ails the communities. We need to be guided by scientific tests to make the right decisions. We will help in these tests and whatever the findings, we will help the fishermen who have been affected," he said.

He asked the officials to keep an open mind and hold their judgment until the results of the chemical analysis have been released.

A key advocate of the Bantay Dagat program which he pushed when he was still agriculture secretary during the Aquino administration, Dominguez asked the officials in a series of meetings last week to give him time to address the concerns of the communities.

He took over the helm of the Rapu-Rapu project last week after an international group of investors which he heads bought into the mother company, Lafayette Mining of Australia.