The Panian pit of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) in Semirara Island, Caluya town, Antique province. Photo credit: Manila Bulletin.
May 22, 2018
“You enabled death from your inaction”: CJ group to SMPC on the death of security aide
The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, strongly condemns the recent fatal incident that cost the life of a 23-year old employee at Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC).
Last May 20, 2018 at 8:00 in the evening, a portion of the Molave pit mine allegedly collapsed and killed Lpath Felipe, a safety aide and a fresh BS Education graduate from the University of Antique—Caluya Campus. According to some reports, Felipe was having his regular check-up rounds on the area when the incident happened.
Backtracking Semirara’s Unfortunate Incidents
This is not the first time that deaths happened inside this company. Backtracking the records of Semirara, there were already 10 recorded deaths last February 2013; 9 miners dead last July 2015, and 2 alleged recorded injuries this 2018 where most of these were also caused by the collapse of pit mines which trapped the workers in site.
“These incidents put the company in question. How safe is Semirara Mining and Power Corporation both in the aspect of how it affects the communities in the periphery of the site, and for its own workers? If this unfortunate incidents can happen directly to their safety aide, what more to those regular employees not as equipped as Felipe in identifying the dangers of their workplace?” said Ian Rivera, National Coordinator of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice.
Semirara Mining and Power Corporation is the country’s biggest producer of coal. Aside from different cases of pit mine collapse and workplace accidents, said company has been exposed to several complaints for polluting Semirara’s coastal resources.
“Felipe is just one of the workers exposed to the threats and dangers of the extractive industries. While people inside are dying for their jobs, communities off-site are suffering from the impacts of the operations. It is about time we re-evaluate the government’s continued support and dependence on the extractive industries in producing our sources for energy,” Rivera added.
Semirara Mining and Power Corporation as enabler of fatal accidents
Several reports say that the crack that cost the life of Felipe has been allegedly there for a long time but no urgent actions were made to address it. In fact, as stated from a report of the Inquirer, the company said that it is not a pit mine collapse that caused the life of Felipe but he “accidentally slipped and fell onto one of the benches of Molave pit while conducting a routine walk-around inspection in the area.”
“It does not matter,” said Rivera. “It is now secondary reminder for all of us of how workers inside this company die. What matters most now is that there are actual workers dying inside this company and it has been happening for so many years now,” claimed Rivera.
PMCJ called Semirara as enabler of fatal accidents for letting it happen even after having several numbers of deaths. “This is a basic protocol in an organization. Steps have to be taken to avoid an accident from happening again. But it seems that Semirara has never learned from its mistakes. Inaction to address past occurrences is far from being considered as an accident,” Rivera added.
“We demand justice on the death of Felipe and justice for many workers exposed to this kind of threat. We call for an investigation on this incident and we want it to be transparent. Furthermore, we hope that these incidents together with all scientifically-accepted and proven ill-effects of coal are more than enough reasons for our government to reconsider its subservience to deadly and dirty coal as our main source of power,” Rivera concluded.
