After a legal battle of 21 years, the Marinduque Regional Trial Court in central Philippines ruled on 16 May 2022 to grant the damages plea of 30 complainants against the Marcopper Mining Corporation for causing the one of the country’s worst mining disasters in December 1993. The court ordered Marcopper to pay PhP200,000 (US$3,800) in temperate damages and PhP100,00 (US$1,900) in moral damages to each of at least 30 plaintiffs that filed the case in 2001. Marcopper was also ordered to pay PhP1 million (US$19,000) in exemplary damages to all the plaintiffs.
The court said Marcopper was negligent in the operation and maintenance of its Maguila-guila tailings dam, causing it to breach and spilling toxic mine tailings into the Mogpog River. The heavily silted floodwaters submerged and destroyed properties and sources of livelihood, and exposed the residents of Marinduque to serious health risks.
“This is a victory for the plaintiffs who had waited two decades for justice, as much as it is for the other plaintiffs who had unfortunately died in the course of this case,” said Elizabeth Manggol of the Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns.
“The Marcopper disaster is a warning we should heed with the ongoing and planned large-scale projects in the country,” said Atty. E.M. Taqueban, Executive Director of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), a non-government organization that served as the legal counsel for the plaintiffs. He stressed, “Large-scale mining projects present inevitable damage.”
Atty. Ryan Roset, LRC Legal Services Coordinator added, “This emblematic case should serve as a warning for communities who wish to embrace mining. Litigating mining-related cases like this celebrated case is a slow march to justice. Communities must think their decisions through for the impact of the environment can be irreversible. In the case of Marinduque, the river affected by the spill is all but dead.”
Marcopper began its copper mining operations in the Marinduque island province in 1969. Its operations dumped about 50 million tons of mine waste into Calancan Bay, prior to the tailings dam disaster in 1993. Another disaster took place in March 1996, when mine tailings spilled from a drainage tunnel into the Boac and Makulapnit rivers.
Meanwhile, Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment described the court’s decision as “a celebration of the people’s determination and will to hold big mining accountable.” The environmental group however said the people must “be steadfast and vigilant in guarding against attempts to reverse this legal victory. We must continue demanding the full rehabilitation of the Marcopper-affected areas.”