First Balfour Inc., a company under the Lopez Group, denied that it is operating an open pit mine in Batangas province.
First Balfour president and chief operating officer Anthony Paul Fernandez issued the statement after Prof. Carlos Arcilla of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society and the University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Geological Sciences said in a congressional hearing that First Balfour “is mining aggregates in a watershed” in Lobo, Batangas.
“First Balfour categorically denies the allegation… that it operates an open pit mine. The information is simply false,” Fernandez said.
“We further state that we are not operating in any watershed areas. We have applied for a permit to operate an aggregates quarry in Taysan, Batangas, where there is no watershed. Pending approval of the application, we have not started operations there,” Fernandez said.
