Benguet miners lead drive vs mercury use in small-scale mining

A group of pocket miners in Benguet is leading the campaign against the use of mercury in small-scale mining operations around the country, prodded by an environment advocate group that believed the use of the toxic chemical was popularized by miners in this province in the 1970s.

Lawyer Richard Gutierrez (not Roberto as earlier reported), executive director of Basel Action Network (BAN Toxic), said a trace of how small-scale miners in different parts of the country discovered mercury for gold extraction led back to miners or employees of mining companies that operated in Benguet.

The mining industry in the country started in this province, with the establishment in 1905 of Benguet Corp., Gutierrez said on Thursday. “Mercury was being used [in the 1970s] by miners who were high-grading (a euphemism for smuggling gold out of mines run by various companies in the province),” he said.

The process, called “whole ore amalgamation,” involves pouring liquid mercury onto ore, which breaks apart rock and soil to extract gold. Miners need only a small area, even confined spaces, to extract gold using mercury, Gutierrez said.

Miners from Benguet migrated to other gold-rush areas in the country, bringing with them the mercury process and vast years of experience which made pocket mining efficient in Mindanao, the Visayas and parts of Southern Luzon, Gutierrez said.

Widely used

Mercury was widely used in various mining communities in the 1990s, particularly in Caramines Sur, Romblon and parts of Mindanao, Gutierrez said.

He said the migrants were not necessarily indigenous Filipinos of Benguet, whose ancestors panned gold downstream of upland rivers centuries ago, because the first mining companies in the province employed people from various parts of the country.

But Lomino Kaniteng, president of Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners (BFSSM), said a younger generation of miners has become conscious about the ill effects of mercury and returned to traditional mine processes, like panning and sluicing (a process using channels that regulate flow of water) to extract gold.

Kaniteng had submitted to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) a manifesto promising a mercury-free pocket mining trade in Benguet by 2015. The manifesto was read on Jan. 24 during the UNEP Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee session in Chiba, Japan, he said.

Prototype machine

Two weeks ago, Kaniteng said the BFSSM also began testing a prototype machine, invented by Danish geologist Philip Appel, that uses copper sheets and electricity to recover mercury buried in mine tailings (mine waste), to help start a cleansing drive.

BAN Toxic held here on Thursday a nationwide consultation with pocket miners, part of the group’s lobby process to convince the government to introduce a mercury-abolition policy to a national strategic plan for mining under the administration of President Aquino.

Gutierrez said an antimercury campaign led by Benguet miners is appropriate because it also addresses a yearlong case study which BAN Toxic conducted that discovered why discouraging mercury use has been difficult.

The BAN Toxic report, “The Price of Gold,” profiles the various mining associations in the country, concluding with a realization that efficient gold extraction through mercury is driven by miners grappling with poverty or those who are lured by the gratification of easy money, he said.

“BAN Toxic realized that since miners learned the process of mercury from other miners, it would take miners to convince them to drop mercury use,” Gutierrez said.

“We believe Benguet miners would be effective. Among the mining associations we encountered, the Benguet miners proved to be more professional and more cerebral in approaching their task. They scrutinize new technology, for example, and then devise a way to improve it to their needs,” he said

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Lawmaker seeks tougher measures vs toxic chemicals

A feisty lawmaker has called for stringent measures against toxic substances, saying that each Filipino deserves to live in a healthy environment.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago filed Senate Resolution No. 376, which calls for a “robust and coherent national policy framework, strategy, and program for chemicals in order to reduce, if not totally eradicate, the adverse health, environmental, and social impacts of toxic chemicals to humans and the ecosystems.”

She said a strong policy framework on the part of government will help in ensuring the health and safety of the public, especially the vulnerable groups, from toxic chemicals.

Santiago said people most vulnerable to risk from toxic chemicals include the children, women of child-bearing age, the elderly, farmers, workers, waste pickers and the poor.

“It is our shared responsibility to respect and ensure the right of every Filipino of this generation and those yet to be born, to live, learn, and work in a healthy, safe, and toxic-free environment,” Santiago, who also authored Republic Act No. 9729 or the Climate Change Act, said.

“It is imperative that the legislature implement strong policies that will prioritize pollution prevention and environmental justice, in order to respond to some of the most pressing chemical safety issues today,” the senator added.

The lawmaker made the call after environmental groups such as the EcoWaste Coalition, Ban Toxics, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, and Health Care Without Harm, urged for the implementation of the policy framework of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM).

SAICM has been adopted by the international community since February 6, 2006.

Apart from filing Senate Resolution No. 376, Santiago also advocated for massive information campaign and education of the public on chemicals and chemical safety issues.

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In 3 Philippine areas, mercury poisons air, says study

In some places in the Philippines, breathing would be like committing suicide.

The air in some mined-over communities in three provinces, a study presented here said, has been poisoned by one of the earth’s most toxic chemical elements—mercury.

According to the study, released here on Wednesday, levels of mercury vapor in some mining communities in Benguet, Camarines Norte and Palawan were higher by 30 times than levels that are considered safe.

While the presence of a minute amount of mercury in the air is normal, levels of mercury in the air in these places were unusually high.
Lawyer Roberto Gutierrez, executive director of the Basel Action Network (BAN), said his group scanned various parts of the country, including areas near Malacañang, using a portable mercury analyzer between the latter part of 2010 and the early part of 2011.

No detection

Based on its findings, BAN said it believed the government is unable to detect high levels of mercury circulating in the atmosphere, he said.

BAN is a Seattle-based organization behind a campaign to eliminate mercury presence in industries and household items.

The BAN study said mercury vapor was detected in the air even in places where there are no known human activity involving the use of mercury, like Malacañang Palace.

“Mercury vapor was detected in small concentrations even in areas with no known or alleged use of mercury,” the study said.

“President Aquino could be out in the yard of Malacañang Palace smoking and he is already inhaling 7.9 nanograms per cubic meters (npcm) of mercury vapor,” Gutierrez said in the presentation of the BAN report entitled “Chasing Mercury: Measuring Mercury Levels in Air Across the Philippines.”

Mercury is a rare toxic metal that melts into liquid. It has been used for common household items like thermometers and for extracting gold and silver in small-scale mining outfits.

Safe levels

According to Gutierrez, the United States Environmental Protection Agency ranks 900 npcm of mercury vapor as safe. At 10,000 npcm, immediate evacuation of communities is recommended.

In Barangay Malaguit in Paracale, Camarines Norte, the average reading for mercury vapor in the air was 14,275.3 npcm and the highest level was 30,000 npcm, according to the BAN study, quoting results of tests done Nov. 24-25 last year.

Malaguit’s residential area had an average reading of 266.7 npcm of mercury vapor and a maximum reading of 5,516.2 npcm, the BAN study said.

“In mining areas, mercury concentrations increased dramatically during operations when mercury was used,” said Gutierrez. He said dangerous levels of mercury “have been detected even when the operations have terminated.”

The same study said Sitio Pulang-Lupa in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, has as much as 1,488.8 npcm of mercury vapor in the air because it was near an abandoned mine that used to extract mercury, Gutierrez said.

He said while mercury in the air is a natural occurrence, “the highest mercury vapor concentrations were found in sites where mercury was being used or stored.”

Puzzling

High mercury levels in urban areas with no contact with mercury was puzzling, he added.

Lomino Kaniteng, president of Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners Inc. said the BAN findings were not surprising.

In the barracks of workers of pocket miners and mining firm Benguet Corp. in Camp 5 in Itogon, Benguet, the BAN study said tests made from Nov. 21 to 22 last year showed a reading of a maximum 30,000 npcm of mercury vapor in the air and an average of 3,751.8 npcm.

Mercury use is more common in small-scale mining operations, however. Large-scale mining firms abandoned mercury use in favor of cyanide.

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Miners call for No Mercury, Cite NGO Study

The Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners, Inc. (BFSSMI), a provincial association of more than 10,000 gold miners called the attention of local government and their fellow miners of the growing mercury pollution coming from the small-scale mining sector citing a recent study on mercury air emissions and declared their support for ongoing initiatives towards a mercury-free small-scale gold mining in the Philippines.



The call came during a media briefing jointly organized by BFSSMI in collaboration with Ban Toxics, a non-profit environmental non-government organization promoting toxics use elimination, for the Northern Luzon launch of the NGO’s report entitled Chasing Mercury: Measuring Mercury Levels in Air Across the Philippines. The report was a product of a six-month monitoring and investigation of elemental mercury concentration in air in small-scale gold mining areas including those in Itogon, Benguet, hospitals, schools, and in various mercury hotspots in the country through the use of Lumex RA-915+ Portable Mercury Analyzer device.



“We have long recognized the overwhelming scientific evidence on the adverse effects of mercury to human health and the environment,” says Leoncio Na-oy, BFSSMI Secretary. “That is why more than five years ago, we started convincing our members to gravitate to mercury-free gold liberation techniques which are more effective and with less environmental impacts,” he added.



ASGM in the Philippines is known to emit at least 70 metric tonnes of mercury, accounting for more than 30 percent of the country’s annual mercury emission. Mercury use in ASGM is said to have been taking place for more than three decades.



“Mercury pollution in air is also a major concern because inhalation of mercury vapor can cause irreversible damage to the lungs, “ explained Gil Viloria, Jr., Hg ASGM Coordinator of Ban Toxics. “When we conducted air emissions test in a miner’s barracks that used mercury, the reading was so high it went above the maximum level our equipment could read. Miners using mercury are thus dangerously exposed to this poison just by using it.”



The Ban Toxics’ report cited that one of the worst form of gold production which is the open burning of amalgams by small-scale gold miners have unduly exposed the miners and their families to the dangers of mercury. According to their study, background levels of mercury already exist. The continued and dangerous practice of using mercury and burning it in open fires heavily adds to the mercury that is already in the environment.



Mercury, a poisonous persistent pollutant capable of long-range transport and bio-accumulation also attacks the nervous system and brings complications such as loss of cognitive capacity and memory, and impaired neuro-muscular coordination, among others. Fetuses, children and women of child-bearing age are particularly vulnerable to mercury’s toxic threats.



During Ban Toxics’ tests in Benguet province, the group was able to detect high levels of mercury emissions in the miner’s barracks in Itogon. Mercury concentration in that particular site hit a maximum reading of 30,000 ng/m3, three-times the action level used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in calling for immediate evacuation of a residential area due to mercury pollution.



BFSSMI recently issued a declaration, which called for a timely response to the issues currently besetting ASGM. The declaration was submitted to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by the Philippine representatives during the recently concluded Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC) 2 meeting held in Chiba, Japan last month. The INC 2 meeting is part of the ongoing discussions for a global treaty against mercury use. The proposed treaty has one of its elements the reduction and eventual elimination of mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, recognized as the largest mercury demand sector both locally and globally.



BFSSMI’s campaign against mercury use which commenced in 2005 has accordingly resulted in the reduction of mercury use from the sector by 90 percent.



“Our ultimate goal is that by 2015, we can safely declare that small-scale gold mining in Benguet is mercury free,” says Leoncio Naoy, BFSSMI Secretary.



The Ban Toxics study was supported by the Garfield Foundation and the European Commission through the European Environment Bureau. The report is also part of a global effort under the Zero Mercury Working Group to call for strong controls in global emissions of mercury.

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Less exports qualify for JPEPA tariffs

THE PHILIPPINES’ usage of a trade deal with Japan declined last year, with less exports qualifying for preferential tariffs, official data showed.

Roughly 2% of shipments to that Northeast Asian economy enjoyed the lower duties provided by the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) versus 4% in 2009, based on National Statistics Office (NSO) data made available toBusinessWorld yesterday.

The Bureau of Customs said lower Japanese demand for exports were to blame, but other experts suspect that the traders’ flagging compliance with JPEPA criteria and weak government systems were behind the decline seen just before both countries review implementation of the pact this year.

"One of the factors to look at is the recession in Japan," George N. Manzano, University of Asia and the Pacific economist and former Tariff Commissioner, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

"Or it could be the compliance with the rules of origin," Mr. Manzano said, referring particularly to provisions which require a certain level of local content for a product to qualify for lower tariffs under the pact.

A check with the latest available Philippine export data, however, showed that outbound shipments to Japan had already recovered in 2010 and grew by more than a quarter from year-ago levels to $7.798 billion.

Despite this growth in Japanese demand, only $134.724 million worth of exports qualified for JPEPA tariffs, according to NSO’s breakdown, or nearly half the $263.582 million recorded in 2009.

This was reflected in export sales of wiring harnesses for cars, a key export.

While sales of this product to Japan grew 39.2% to $409.697 million in 2010, those that were JPEPA-eligible dropped by 96.8% to $26,219.

The Customs office at the Port of Manila similarly recorded a decline: the state agency issued JPEPA certificates of origin for just $469,630 worth of exports, down 81.8% from year-ago levels.

Compared to NSO data on exports leaving this port, JPEPA-eligible products comprised just 0.04% of the total in 2010 versus 0.3% in 2009.

"Japan was affected by global recession like all other countries," Louis C. Adivento, export division chief at the Custom’s port office, said in an e-mail.

But officials of export groups instead complained of the allegedly complex rules firms had to hurdle to secure preferential tariffs.

JPEPA requires exporters to prove that the merchandise contains a minimum level of locally made materials or that it was processed enough to cause a change in tariff classification. The thresholds for these vary per product and can be computed either by subtracting the foreign content or by summing up the value added.

All these have to be accomplished despite differences between Japan’s and the Philippines’ tariff codes for classifying products. Even as both codes use the harmonized system, Japan’s features 3,356 more tariff lines, according the JPEPA overview on the Trade department’s Web site.

"It’s hard to comply with the technical machineries," Philippine Exporters Confederation President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

"Even the government processors are confused with the tariff classifications," Mr. Ortiz-Luis said.

"Perhaps before, Customs didn’t scrutinize the applications. But on the second year, maybe implementation became stricter."

Roberto C. Amores, president of the Philippine Food Processors and Exporters Organization, Inc. echoed this concern in a text message yesterday, saying: "There are lots of confusing conditions for compliance."

Both countries’ tariff codes are not optimally harmonized, with the current set up "working only in favor of Japan," Mr. Amores claimed.

The government would do well to raise this issue at the JPEPA review slated this year, Mr. Manzano said.

Dates for the review could be finalized when officials of both countries meet on Feb. 28 to review the pact’s implementation, Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal, Jr. said in a separate telephone interview.

"But at the same time, it’s important to work on how exporters can surmount the rules of origin requirements," Mr. Manzano said.

Mr. Cristobal concurred, noting that the department will be ramping up its education campaign for exporters next month after holding information seminars on using trade agreements back in November.

"And in partnership with the Bureau of Customs, we’re streamlining the process and trying to simplify it further," he added.

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7 patay sa silver cleaner

Sa loob lamang ng mahigit sa dalawang buwan ay pito katao na ang naitalang nasawi dahil sa aksidente at sadyang pagkakainom na silver­ jewelry cleaner.

Ito ang nabatid kahapon mula sa ulat ng Ecowaste Coalition kung kaya sumulat at humihingi ng tulong ang grupo kay PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo ng tulungan sila para hulihin ang mga illegal na nagbebenta ng nakakamatay na silver cleaner solution.

Ayon kay Roy Alvarez, pre­sident ng Ecowaste Coalition, dapat ay gumawa ng agarang police operation laban sa mga tiwaling “silver jewelry shop” at mga tindahan na patuloy pang nagbebenta ng nakalalasong kemikal.

Ang silver cleaner, cyanide at iba pang toxic substances ay kabilang sa ipinag-utos ng Department of Health (DOH) at Food and Drug Administration (FDA) na bawal itinda sa mga tindahan pero patuloy umanong nilalabag ang nasabing kautusan.

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Clean, Green Philippines Goal Marks 25th People Power Anniversary

A waste and pollution watchdog organization is rallying public support for a garbage-free Philippines, and President Benigno S. Aquino III is leading an effort to plant 500,000 trees in one hour as the nation celebrates the 25th anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolution on Friday, February 25.

The EcoWaste Coalition is urging all Filipinos to heed its 25 "down-to-earth" garbage prevention and reduction tips called "25@25" in commemoration of the 25th year of the nonviolent people's action for change.
President Begnino S. Aquino III, left, and Camarines Sur Governor Luis Raymund Villafuerte, Jr. sign seedlings to be planted February 23, 2011. (Photo by Jay Morales /BenHur Arcayan/Rey Baniquet/Malacañang Photo Bureau)

The 1986 People Power Revolution was a series of popular nonviolent revolutions and prayerful street demonstrations involving more than two million people that resulted in the restoration of democracy. The long campaign of civil resistance against the 20-year repressive regime of then President Ferdinand Marcos ended on February 25, 1986, when Marcos fled to Hawaii, conceding the presidency to Corazon Aquino.

Most of the demonstrations took place at Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, known by its acronym EDSA, in Quezon City, Metropolitan Manila.

Today, the EcoWaste Coalition is advocating "people power" to cut the country's "mammoth waste size" of nearly 13 million tons annually, close and rehabilitate over a thousand illegal dumpsites and put a stop to littering.

"We are not asking the people to come together en masse in EDSA or anywhere else," explained Roy Alvarez, president of the EcoWaste Coalition. "What we seek is a personal commitment from all patriotic Filipinos not to litter and to embrace a lifestyle that will treat our Mother Earth with love and respect"

"This, we believe, is compatible with the theme of this year's celebration, 'I'm a Filipino, I'm the Force of Change,'" he said.

"As the force of change, we, the people, can clear our surroundings of trash and get rid of dumpsites which are akin to gaping wounds that should be cleaned, sealed and healed," said Alvarez.

"Despite national and local laws prohibiting and penalizing littering and dumping, the unabashed trashing of our fragile environment persists. By calling for people power against littering, the EcoWaste Coalition hopes that Filipinos, as one people, will reject this dirty habit and rally behind a litter-free Philippines that we all can be proud of," he said.
Boy rides through the Malabon dumpsite in Quezon City, Philippines. (Photo by The Housekeeper)

The country generates some 35,000 tons of waste every day, 12.8 million tons of waste a year, according to the National Solid Waste Management Commission. Waste is disposed in 1,172 dumpsites outlawed by Republic Act 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Filipinos need to recognize dumping as a social ill that must be exterminated, regard the habit as distasteful and totally unacceptable, and eradicate the problem by enforcing R.A. 9003 in combination with a public awareness campaign, the EcoWaste Coalition said.

The organization is inviting President Benigno Aquino III, also known as Noynoy Aquino or P-Noy, to lead the national cleanup.

"We hope that P-Noy himself will lead this movement for a 'litter-free Pilipinas' in line with his Social Contract with the Filipino People," Alvarez said. The Social Contract refers to the electoral platform of then presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino that is supposed to represent "a commitment to change that Filipinos can depend on."

To mark the anniversary, P-Noy is leading a tree planting activity in Pili, Camarines Sur as part of the El Verde Project 12 million trees in 2012. Headed by Governor Luis Raymund Villafuerte, Jr., the El Verde project also aims to plant 500,000 trees simultaneously in one hour.

The project is an advocacy campaign spearheaded by the governor dedicated to reversing the rate of deforestation in the province of Camarines Sur, creating awareness and engaging individuals to help save the environment.

The campaign covers two cities, 35 municipalities, and 1,036 barangays. More than 10,000 residents will attempt to plant 500,000 trees in one hour on February 23, hoping to place the province in the Guinness Book of World Records and make the Philippines the Green Capital of Asia.

President Aquino challenged Filipinos to remain steadfast in keeping with the principles of this "continuing revolution" in order to achieve "another possibility that has for so long eluded us: that of our nation fulfilling its great potential."

The President said, "I believe our yearly EDSA commemorations are more than just celebrations. They are reminders of the responsibilities we must still collectively fulfill."

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