Legarda urges gov’t agencies: InvestigateSemirara mine landslide

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Senator Loren Legarda has asked the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Energy and Department of Environment and Natural Resources to investigate the landslide incident at the Semirara Coal and Mining Corporation (SCMC) that claimed five lives and left five others still missing to this day.

Describing it a labor safety tragedy, Legarda, who was in Iloilo for a Team PNoy rally, said that there is now a need to review the labor safety standards instituted at mine sites. The DOE, DOLE and DENR must also look into the mining projects all over the country to know if safety standards for workers are strictly complied with.

These three agencies exercise regulatory control and oversight functions over coal mining companies. “How are these agencies enforcing safety standards on site? I hope this is not again a case whereby you see government regulations being reviewed and enforced only because lives have been lost,” she said.

Search and retrieval operations must be carried out without let-up, and sssistance should be extended to the families of the victims, Legarda further told The Freeman.

Legarda also saw the need for a review of Republic Act 7942 (Philippine Mining Act of 1995), in the wake of extreme weather conditions. But as search and retrieval operations continue, Legarda added that accountabilities must be established within and outside of government.

“Safety in coal mining is always an issue. There are environmental as well as health and safety implications to the workers. SCMC was given a license to operate an open pit mining facility, but did they comply with occupational and safety standards?” Legarda asked.

Shortly before midnight of February 13, a landslide occurred in the Panian pit area of Semirara MInign Corporation’s mine in Semirara Island in Caluya, Antique.

Last Wednesday, the local government of Caluya held a special session with Juniper Baroquillo, administrative division manager of SMC, to make official the commitment of the company in providing livelihood and scholarship programs, from elementary to college, to the families and children of the victims.

A seven-man team from the 301st Infantry Brigade and five K-9 sniffing dogs supported the on-going conduct of Search, Rescue, and Retrieval Operation. A geologist was brought in as part of the team organized by the DOE to aid in the determination of the cause of landslide.

Due to the occurrence of subsidence of soil on the same area, retrieval operations were sometimes halted. Caluya LGU, the Antique provincial government and DSWD-6 already conducted crisis incident stress debriefing activities to widows and relatives of the casualties.

Aside from distribution of food packs, the DSWD extended financial assistance of P10,000 each to the families of dead victims, P5,000 for each for the three survivors, and P1,000 each to the families of the five missing victims. (FREEMAN)