Excerpts from an article in Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine:
Marinduque Victims Still Cry for Justice
Vol. VII, No. 8, March 25-31, 2007
Court records reveal that after the filing of the cases in April 11, 1996, the accused Marcopper officials filed a Motion to Quash before the Boac MTC. After the exchange of various pleadings, the complaints for violation of the Philippine Water Code and the Anti-Pollution Law were quashed/dismissed by the lower court but the accused mining company officials were arraigned for the remaining cases on May 28, 1997.
The prosecution appealed the ruling at the Regional Trial Court in Marinduque while the accused sought the intervention of the same court praying for the quashing also of the cases for violation of the Philippine Mining Act. On March 20, 1998, the RTC reversed and set aside the ruling of the lower court and reinstated all the criminal cases filed against the accused. This ruling was appealed by the accused in the Court of Appeals and in the Supreme Court.
Eight years after, the Supreme Court finally upheld the RTC ruling on February 10, 2006 and ordered the reinstatement of all criminal cases, which in effect, remanded the same to the court of origin. The only progress of the cases was on November 22, 2006 when the provincial prosecutor filed a manifestation and motion to set cases for hearing and only after MACEC presented a computer downloaded copy of the Supreme Court decision.
(MACEC's Myke) Magalang assailed “the extreme inefficiency of the justice system because it is unimaginable why until now the prosecution and even the Municipal Trial Court of Boac were not officially furnished with copies of the Supreme Court decision.”
The prosecution’s manifestation informed the Municipal Trial Court that “it is in possession of what appears to be a computer generated copy of the decision in G.R. No. 152644” and opined that it would perhaps suffice in “paving the way for the resumption of the hearing.”
Magalang further emphatically said that such “is indeed a grave insult to the already disillusioned and disheartened people of Marinduque who are continuously suffering and threatened to die one by one from heavy metal poisoning. That is why we are calling the attention of the Department of Justice to direct the panel of prosecutors to prioritize this case of the Filipino people against the foreign nationals and officers of the multinational mining company which plundered our national patrimony. We also call on the Supreme Court to officially transmit copy of its February 2006 Decision in order for the Municipal Trial Court of Boac to expedite the hearing of the cases.”
Unpaid local taxes
Another important concern that MACEC strongly pursues is to find ways and means to compel Marcopper Mining Corporation and Placer Dome, Inc to pay their unpaid real property taxes to the province of Marinduque and the municipalities of Boac, Mogpog, Sta. Cruz and Torrijos which totaled PhP1,048,624,496.80 ($21,773,764.46 at an exchange rate of $1=P48.16) as of the second quarter of 2006.
“This is an extreme insensitivity of a company which amassed billions of dollars in profits and which claims to be a good corporate citizen of the country but neglecting its primary duty to pay legitimate taxes to the government. This is a period when poor Filipinos are trooping the local treasury offices in the country to pay their basic real property taxes. But the mining company which caused destruction to the people’s health and the island’s environment preferred to go to Court to sue the provincial government of Marinduque to question the tax assessment schedule imposed by the local government,” explained Magalang.
According to the records of the Provincial Treasurer of Marinduque officially furnished to MACEC, Marcopper has standing tax debts of PhP1,013,101,529.51 ($21,036,161.32) in the municipality of Sta. Cruz for the period 1980 to 2006; PhP11,164,686.80 ($231,824.89)in the municipality of Torrijos for the period 1983-1996; PhP1,194,977.89 ($24,812.66) in the municipality of Mogpog for the period 1999 to 2006; and, PhP23,163,602.60 ($480,971.81) in the municipality of Boac for the period 1985 to 2006.
