Fight against Lafayette Mining far from over
International shame campaign, Save Rapu-Rapu Task Force formed
14 February 2007 -- Denouncing DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes, his heartless decision to reopen Lafayette’s Rapu-Rapu mine and his utter lack of love for the island and its residents, Defend Patrimony alliance today announced the start of an international petition addressed at Lafayette Mining’s corporate financiers and the formation of the Save Rapu-Rapu Task Force that would continue to monitor the situation in Albay and campaign for the permanent closure of Lafayette.
“The fight against the Lafayette mine reopening is far from over. We are not least appeased by Sec. Reyes’ public reassurances that Lafayette Mining will no longer cause environmental damage. We’ll be closely monitoring the situation in Rapu-Rapu and will continue to work for Lafayette’s permanent pull-out in the island,” declared geologist and Defend Patrimony Spokesperson Trixie Concepcion.
“There are still so many unanswered questions and unresolved issues about Lafayette Mining. Even the DENR has yet to scientifically disprove the environmental blight of acid mine drainage in Rapu-Rapu, which is fast progressing in the island according to studies by independent observers,” said Frances Quimpo, Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines (CEC-Phils).
“Lafayette should be flaunting its changes for all the world to see if it has indeed resolved the problems. Yet none of the Rapu-Rapu folk and truly independent probes have been allowed to look into the mine facility, facing harassment from Lafayette's guards instead. We have yet to see for real if Lafayette has indeed resolved many of the structural integrity issues raised against it,” Quimpo continued.
Defend Patrimony along with national fisherfolks federation PAMALAKAYA today presented their “Valentines Day gifts” to the DENR, including a mock program of the world record-breaking ‘Lovapalooza’ kissing spree and announcements of more protest actions against Lafayette.
Concepcion said that environmental groups and local Rapu-Rapu folk would make international a massive “shame campaign” against Lafayette Mining’s continuing presence in Rapu-Rapu. This is to be initially done through an international petition addressed to major bank financiers of Lafayette such as ABN AMRO of the Netherlands, ANZ of Australia, Standard Chartered Bank of United Kingdom and KFSC of South Korea.
The international petition was initiated early this January by Sagip-Isla, Sagip Kapwa, a local alliance in Rapu-Rapu opposed to Lafayette’s mining operations.
The first wave of petition-signing this February has quickly gathered hundreds of signatories among the island’s residents alone.
“As of now we have gathered 1,384 signatures from the local residents of Rapu-rapu in just one week. We are targeting to get around 80-90% of the island’s households in the island to support the petition. This is another way to demonstrate that the significant majority of the local people do not want large-scale mining in their lands and expose that Lafayette is operating without social consent,” said local Rapu-Rapu elder and Sagip-Isla leader Antonio Casetas.
“The DENR and Lafayette Mining are lying through their teeth when they say that Rapu-Rapu's residents are welcoming the mine with open arms. We have never agreed to the mine and definitely we do not want it to reopen, especially after the two chemical spills, fish kills, fish scares, acid mine drainage, pollution, poverty, earth movements, and harassment that we have experienced right after Lafayette came,” Casetas said.
The text of the petition reads that “contrary to what is routinely claimed by LPI and communicated to its financiers, the project utterly lacks local community support, therefore operating without having obtained the ‘social license to operate,’ as required in covenants as the ‘Equator Principles’ that are supposed to govern your (bank financiers) investment decisions.”
The petition also said that “the project has ever since faced strong resistance from the people of Rapu-Rapu, Bicol provinces and the country, who have consistently opposed mining operations in the island, asserted their rights to the land and resources, protected their source of livelihood, and defended the local island’s ecosystem which is classified as an environmentally-critical area. Such resistance has been expressed before Lafayette started its operations and more intensively after the tailings spills in October 2005.”
Defend Patrimony said that the petition is also gathering more supporters from the national level. Among the Bicolono personalities and who support the petition are Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes, Congressman Satur Ocampo, and Dr. Regina Regis.
“WE THEREFORE URGE the consortium of financiers to the LPI mine in Rapu-Rapu to immediately withdraw their assistance to this financially-unstable, environmentally-destructive, and socially-insensitive project that deserves nothing but outright censure and closure,” said in the petition.
“We want to show to the world that until now Lafayette does not enjoy public support and what is happening now in Rapu-rapu is pure plunder and devastation. Through the petition, we are requesting the bank financiers to withdraw their financial support to the polymetallic mining project of Lafayette in Rapu-rapu,” Ms. Concepcion adds.
The international campaign is currently targeted at pressuring international banks to withdraw financial support for the Rapu-Rapu polymetallic project due to Lafayette Mining's lack of social acceptability among the people.
"Banks as ABN AMRO, ANZ, JPMorgan Chase and Standard Chartered choose to take a huge ´RapuRaputational´ risk with their continued involvement in this mining operation" said Johan Frijns, coordinator of BankTrack
"International banks keeping Lafayette afloat are strongly advised not to derive any false reassurances from this decision", Frijns said, "the issues that make this a extremely risky investment for any bank pretending to be serious about sustainability will remain. With no social license to operate, leading to continued widespread opposition to the mine, and operating under adverse natural conditions the very same issues that led to the earlier suspension of operations will return on their plate."
Frijns has tallied at least 285 individuals representing at least 60 international organizations who signed the petition during its initial wave of dissemination.
Based in The Netherlands, Banktrack is network of civil society organizations and individuals tracking the operations of the private financial sector and its effect on people and the planet. Banktrack also spearheads the petition campaign at the international level.
Starting today, the petition will be made available to the public this week via the internet, where people may directly sign up to support at www.banktrack.org, Concepcion said.
*You can view the petition here at the Banktrack site.*
The protesters shaved their heads to dramatize the impending environmental destruction and massive resource depletion that will happen once Lafayette resumes full commercial operations in the island. 
