Lawmaker bares ‘luyot’ scandal in Vizcaya

MANILA, Philippines - Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla has exposed what he described as a mine tailings or “luyot” scandal in his province.

Padilla said provincial officials charge P10 per kilo or P250,000 per truck hauling 25 tons of mine tailings.

“However, there is no official acknowledgement from the provincial government of the P250,000 payment by the luyot  transporter. What is only being acknowledged is the P10,000 mineral tax through an official receipt issued by the office of the treasurer of Nueva Vizcaya,” he said.

He said this means that there is a missing balance of P240,000 per truck of mine wastes transported, and the provincial government is losing P2.4 million daily for every 10 trucks.

“These missing transport fees should have been properly accounted for and used to generate livelihood projects, build more classrooms for our students, provide more scholarship programs for our youth, and improve our roads and other infrastructure needs. Instead, these funds simply vanished into thin air, to the detriment of the people of Nueva Vizcaya,” he said.

Padilla asked the Commission on Audit, Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Finance to look into the “missing” collections.

He also urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to check where the mine tailings are coming from.