BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is examining old lease sites of a mining company in Benguet after it was found dumping untreated asbestos insulation panels in Mankayan town.
Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. (LCMC) admitted burying six truckloads of asbestos debris there, said Neoman dela Cruz, Cordillera director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
Dela Cruz said the firm’s penalty would be based on the volume of buried asbestos debris that came from Metro Manila.
Asbestos fiber has been associated with cancer, and the government has discouraged the sale of asbestos-laced materials, such as ceiling panels, since 2007.
A law banning its use or sale in the country, however, is still pending before the Senate.
The Mine Rehabilitation Fund Committee (MRFC) has been studying whether LCMC can access its trust fund so it could clean up the dump in Barangay Sapid in Mankayan, he said.
Rolando Reyes, LCMC environment manager, reported in a Feb. 9 letter to the DENR that 8.78 metric tons of asbestos debris had been “resurfaced, repackaged and hauled out” to a facility in Urdaneta City in Pangasinan on Oct. 8, 2008.
Based on an MGB report sent to Environment Secretary Lito Atienza last week, LCMC had acknowledged that it had exported waste containing “suspected/presumed asbestos ceiling and insulation materials” to Mankayan in 2007.
The report indicated that the municipality had been aware of this activity.
On Feb. 10, Alex Luis, sanitary engineer of the Environmental Management Bureau, led MGB and health officials in testing Mankayan’s soil and water where the asbestos was unearthed, upon the request of Mayor Manalo Galuten.
A Feb. 4 letter to LCMC from the Occupational Safety and Health Center, an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment, had assured the firm that the soil was free of asbestos contaminants.- Vincent Cabreza
Northern Luzon Bureau, Philippine Daily Inquirer
September 18 –
International Equal Pay Day
“Increase wages now,
more than other cost items.
For widespread, practical equality!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
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October –
Monthly Observances:
Industry and Commerce Safety Month
National Statistics Month
Local Government Month
Consumer Welfare Month
Cooperative Month
National Quality and Productivity Improvement Month
National Health and Wellness Tourism Month
National Indigenous Peoples Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Elderly Filipino Week
Week 2: National Health Education Week
Local Government Week
National Mental Health Week
October 17-23:
National Week for Overcoming Extreme Poverty
October 18 – 24:
United Nations Week
Last Week:
Nurses’ Week
Consumers’ Protection Week
Week of the 4th Sunday:
Barrio Farmers’ Week
Daily Observances:
First Monday (Oct 4): Universal Children’s Day i
n the Philippines
Oct 5: National Teachers’ Day
Oct 10: Local Government Day
Third Thursday (Oct 14): Conflict Resolution Day
Oct 21: Tenants’ Emancipation day
Oct 24: United Nations Day
Oct 29: National Indigenous People’s Thanksgiving Day
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