DENR Western Visayas execs on carpet for breach of protocol in Semirara audit

by Jonathan L. Mayuga - September 21, 2016

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/denr-western-visayas-execs-on-carpet-for-breach-of-protocol-in-semirara-audit/

OFFICIALS of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Western Visayas are in hot water for prematurely declaring the Molave Expansion Project of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) as “technically sound.”

Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez said she was “shocked” that officials of the DENR Region 6 Office sent a report and showed it to SMPC officials without the authorization from the DENR Central Office.

“I was shocked, and that’s an understatement, that the regional director of the Environmental Management Bureau [EMB] sent a report, showed it to the mining company without the knowledge of the EMB director or even the head of the audit for that matter,” Lopez said in a text message sent to the media.

An environmental advocate, Lopez is suspicious that the audit team would have easily passed the audit criteria.

Lopez was reacting to reports that the DENR-EMB in Western Visayas issued a field validation report that cleared SMPC’s Molave Expansion Project on Semirara Island, in the town of Caluya, in Antique, without authorization from higher office.

Documents revealed that Jonathan P. Bulos, the DENR-EMB region 6 director, furnished SMPC a copy of the audit report on September 16, two days after request for a copy of the final report was made by Victor A. Consunji, president and CEO of of SMPC.

Using the DENR audit team’s audit report provided by the Region 6 EMB chief, SMPC issued a public disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday.

An angry Lopez described the incident as “a breach of protocol, which leaves to serious doubt the validity for the report.”

“That’s so out of protocol and leaves to serious doubt the validity for that report. We’re having a full- day planning session on Wednesday with many of our scientists to make sure that the audit report covers all angles and is within current DENR standards. That report is absolutely premature. And that regional director is in hot water,” Lopez said.

Lopez told the BusinessMirror that she will hold a planning audit and will have the final results of the mining audit prepared.

She said an official statement will be released by Monday at a news conference announcing the result of the audit.

“They super have to get their act together. And I will also visit the place,” Lopez said.

Senior Environment Undersecretary Leo L. Jasareno, in an earlier interview, said the DENR chief always has the final say whether the subject of an audit passed Lopez’s audit criteria.

“The central office issued the order to conduct the audit and come up with a validation report. It means the regional office should report back to the central office because we still need to validate the report first,” Jasareno said.

To recall, SMPC disclosed that its Molave Expansion Project passed the environmental audit conducted by a team of the DENR.

It says that, based on the two-day audit, the project was found to be “technically sound,” considering that all aspects have been considered, such as slope stability analysis, analyses of pumping tests of dewatering wells and greenhouse-gas emission reduction project.

SMPC Vice President and Corporate Secretary John R. Sadullo said in the company’s public disclosure posted on the SEC web site that the mining audit report shows full compliance to environmental laws, as well, based on a matrix presented by the audit team.

The audit team is composed of representatives of the EMB Central Office, EMB Region 6, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Region 6, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office-Antique, Provincial Health Office of Antique and civil-society organizations. Members of the trimedia were also present during the audit.

Lopez had issued a show-cause order to SMPC for alleged violation of the terms and conditions of its environmental clearance certificate (ECC), and for causing environmental degradation on the island.

Lopez said Semirara’s coal mine is already below sea level, posing a great risk to people living on the island.

Coal mining is within the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy  but, by law, it still has to secure an ECC from the DENR-EMB.

A subsidiary of D.M. Consunji Inc., SMPC is the country’s single major producer of coal.

Lopez had threatened to cancel SMPC’s ECC, which would effectively stop the company’s development project in the area.

SMPC’s coal-mining operation has been the subject of numerous complaints by residents on the island.