Mercury scare just ‘invented,’ says Albay vice gov

Albay Vice Gov. James Calisin said yesterday President Arroyo was duped into releasing P10 million to some Sorsogon towns and forming an independent commission for non-existent reasons.

In a statement, Calisin said the alleged mercury scare in Sorsogon was "an invention of a few key persons in Sorsogon and anti-mining groups for their own vested interests, including blocking Lafayette’s Rapu-Rapu project and at the same time to generate undeserved revenues." Rapu-Rapu is in Albay.

Calisin said five studies by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and one by the University of the Philippines-National Science Research Institute (UP-NSRI) "have proven beyond reasonable doubt that the mercury contamination in Sorsogon was never there from Day One."

"But some quarters persisted in this lie until their own fishermen could not sell their catch, thereby (the fishermen) losing their only means of livelihood, and then using this tragedy of their own making to ask for money from the President," he said.

The President released P10 million last month supposedly to help the affected Sorsogon fishermen and formed an independent commission upon the insistence of Bishop Arturo Bastes to find out if the Rapu-Rapu project, indeed, caused the mercury problem.

"Knowing that there was no mercury problem, some parties submitted their own fish samples that BFAR said had mercury above the tolerable limit. But no one knew who took the samples, how and where (they) were taken. It was this unscientific study that was used to fan the mercury issue," Calisin said.

Last week, Albay’s Sangguniang Panlalawigan unanimously passed a resolution asking the National Bureau of Investigation to find out who submitted the contaminated fish to BFAR.

The resolution will be released as soon as all the provincial board members have signed it.

"Everybody who victimized the estimated 5,000 Sorsogon fishermen and accused us in Albay of not doing anything when, in fact, we were only following the dictates of due process, must be made to account for what they have done," Calisin said.

He added: "They must also face the legal consequences of lying to the President to get funds from the national government that could have been used for genuine calamities like the landslide in Southern Leyte."