MANKAYAN, Benguet—Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. is intensifying its reforestation efforts in Mankayan town this year by planting a total of 50,000 Benguet pine and fruit-bearing trees across five hectares of land.
Further, the company committed to donate another 50,000 assorted tree seedlings to interested organizations and local government units in the region.
Since its kick-off on the Earth Day celebration in April, the company has reforested about 2 hectares of land with 20,000 seedlings. The remaining 30,000 seedlings will be planted in Mankayan’s communal forest and watershed areas within the quarter.
The tree-planting activities are carried out every Saturday and on relevant celebrations like the World Environment Day (June 5) and Philippine Arbor Day (June 25) in cooperation with stakeholders such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the academe, LGUs, interns from different schools, contractors, community members, and employees of Lepanto and its subsidiaries.
“For years, Lepanto has been supportive of DENR’S National Greening Program through massive reforestation projects,” shared LCMC president and COO Bryan U. Yap.
“Lepanto’s reforestation program started decades ago, and has planted over 6.5 million trees over an area of 800 hectares. Every milestone or important occasion in Lepanto is marked by tree-planting activities. This is our way of keeping our commitment to the environment.”
LCMC earned first prize in DENR’s Adopt a Tree, Adopt a Mining Forest program in 1999 for planting 1.2 million trees. The company also donates tens of thousands of seedlings every year to Mankayan and neighboring towns to support their respective greening programs.
Reforestation and other environment-related activities are embodied in Lepanto’s Annual Environmental Protection and Enhancement Program.
The AEPEP budget for this year amounts to P191.97 million, more than double last year’s P77.59 million, and is a testament to Lepanto’s commitment to protect, preserve, and enhance the environment.
Substantial allocations have also been made for the operation and management of the newly-built engineered sanitary landfill, the first in the Philippine mining industry, and continuous effluent management.
Earlier this year, Lepanto, one of the oldest mining companies in the country, pioneered the operation of an engineered sanitary landfill (ESL) in the Philippine mining industry.
The ESL, constructed on a 2,800 sq. meter lot near Lepanto’s mill site is designed to contain residual wastes from households within the mining community and nearby barangays in Mankayan, Benguet.
Lepanto started utilizing the ESL in January, according to Mine Environment Protection and Enhancement Department Manager Rolando Reyes.
Segregated residual wastes from households in the mine camp and Barangays Sapid and Paco amount to about three cubic meters daily which are now collected and brought to the ESL.
Reyes said that the ESL construction cost Lepanto over P4 million with the main ESL component fast-tracked and completed in less than two months utilizing 30 locally hired workers while the other components, i.e., the material recovery facility and the project site office, will be completed by June 2017.
The two-meter wide concrete base of the ESL can withstand strong typhoons with its slope planted with tiger grass and sunflowers and further stabilized by coco-fiber.
The ESL site is covered with a high-density polyethylene liner, ensuring that liquid waste is filtered towards the leachate tank where it is bio-remediated or detoxified using naturally-occurring organisms prior to discharge.
