Benguet to sue DENR on suspension order

By Riza Lozada

The country’s oldest mining firm Ben­guet Corp will seek a court injunction on the Department of Environ­ment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) refusal to lift a sus­pension order imposed on its mining operations in Sta. Cruz, Zambales.

Benguet Corp. unit Benguet Nickel Mines Inc. (BNMI) said the suspension order issued last July 8 was unlawful.

BNMI said that it has pe­titioned the court for a peti­tion for certiorari with injunc­tion to assail the suspension order as it accuses the DENR of grave abuse of discretion.

It said the decision not to lift the suspension order was imposed in an arbitrary man­ner, without due process and ahead of conduct of nation­wide mining audit.

BNMI said the legal rem­edy will also seek to prove that it has fully complied with re­mediation conditions under an order lifting the suspen­sion of operations on BNMI dated August 24, 2015.

However, the offices of the Mining and Geological Bureau, Environment Man­agement Bureau, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources “un­justifiably refused to reverse the suspension order”, BNMI said.

BNMI also reported that it had exerted its best efforts in assuring the DENR and the anti-mining groups that it will continue to undertake responsible and sustainable mining activities and to be an active partner of the govern­ment in protecting the envi­ronment.

It manifested this com­mitment with a proposal that BNMI claimed to be fair and reasonable.

The DENR and an­ti-mining groups rejected the proposal, BNMI said, stressing that these bodies “continue to appear bent on endorsing an unjust arrange­ment which will deprive the mining companies of any re­course against the results of the audits, and, worse, will require them to summarily acknowledge alleged liabilities for compensation and reha­bilitation, without prospect of resuming operations.”

The “unjustifiable sus­pension of BNMI’s opera­tions had taken its toll not only on the corporation but to its workers, contractors and suppliers, and its scholars and surrounding communities, the company reported.

“BNMI had already been forced to temporarily lay off more than 1,000 workers since its unwarranted suspen­sion,” BNMI claimed.