Reyes, DENR execs under fire on award of DMCI mining deal

By Chito Lozada - Tribune.net

DENR-Region III executive director Regidor de Leon, with DENR Undersecretary Eleazar Quinto's knowledge and support, issued an order last Jan. 8 to implement an order of former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes favoring DMCI over A3 UNA on overlapping mining claims in Sta. Cruz, Zambales.

Two mining firms — DMCI Holding Inc. (DMCI) and A3 UNA Mining Corp. (A3 UNA) — are locked in at least two pending court cases over a 3.5-hectare mining concession in Zambales, but the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has proceeded to award the mining area to DMCI without waiting for the resolution of the court cases.

DMCI, one of the largest mining firms in the country, is owned by the Consunji family. A3 UNA is a middle-sized mining firm engaged in small mining operations mainly in Zambales, which is said to have one of the richest nickel and chromite deposits in Asia.

DENR-Region III executive director Regidor de Leon, with DENR Undersecretary Eleazar Quinto's knowledge and support, issued an order last Jan. 8 to implement an order of former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes favoring DMCI over A3 UNA on overlapping mining claims in Sta. Cruz, Zambales.

The DENR implemented the July 30, 2007 memorandum of Reyes, the current Energy secretary, despite knowledge of pending court cases, which A3 UNA has filed against DMCI.
A day before he was transferred to the Department of Energy as its secretary, Reyes issued a memorandum directing DENR to issue a provisional permit in favor of DMCI, but A3 UNA contested it by filing an injunction suit against DMCI.

A3 UNA secured a temporary restraining order from the court.

In January last year, A3 UNA filed with the DENR a foreshore lease application covering a two-hectare mining concession in Barangay Politoc, Sta. Cruz, Zambales.

A month later, A3 UNA filed an amended application to include the 3.5-hectare area, which is covered by the expired foreshore lease agreement of Acoje Mining Corp., the mining firm which did some operations there for almost 40 years before it closed shop.

DMCI opposed A3 UNA's amended application and subsequently filed for a foreshore lease, which covers part of the area applied for by A3 UNA. DMCI's application was in turn opposed by A3 UNA.

The source said the two firms' conflicting claims have escalated in an armed provocation, when a group of armed men, who introduced themselves as members of the 70th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, allegedly barged into A3 UNA property and harassed barangay residents, who were working on A3 UNA's ongoing loading port construction.

This prompted A3 UNA to file a criminal complaint against DMCI.

Despite the two court cases against DMCI, de Leon issued the Jan. 8, 2008 order that awarded the mining concession to DMCI. Quinto was said to have known De Leon's move, but the former did not lift a finger to do it despite calls to let the court decide the overlapping claims.

Last Jan.12, Quinto displayed "partiality" to DMCI and verbally advised A3 UNA officials led by Adrian Yu to yield to DMCI's position and that Yu would be "duly compensated."