Public warned vs bogus environmental compliance certificates THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) warned Saturday the public against fake environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) circulated by unscrupulous individuals. The warning was issued following the discovery of a fraudulent ECC supposedly issued to an indigenous peoples organization for a gold mining project in Zamboanga del Sur. The bogus ECC, purportedly issued by the DENR to a certain Balabag Indigenous Peoples Minahang Bayan Producers Cooperative (BIPMBP), bore the forged signatures of DENR officials, including that of Secretary Ramon Paje. Saturday, November 1, 2014 It supposedly gives BIPMBP the clearance to conduct open pit and tunnel method of mining gold and other minerals covering some 25,000 hectares in Sitio Balabag, Bayog town. Mines and Geosciences Bureau Director Leo Jasareno, however, clarified that no such ECC was issued by the DENR. Per DENR records, no such issuance exists and the signatures affixed to it are forged, Jasareno said. He said his fake signature appeared under the Recommending Approval heading while that of Paje under the Approved by heading. Even if a project involves a mining project, ECCs are not being recommended for approval by the MGB. ECCs are granted by the DENR only through the Environmental Management Bureau or EMB, not MGB. MGB does not grant ECCs, Jasareno said. The forged ECC, dated October 20, 2014 with number ECC-R9-MBC-001-2014, used the EMBs letterhead and the DENRs official logo, complete with 12 conditionalities and even a provision on its volume extraction at 240 tons a day utilizing an open cut method by benching through minimal equipment and manual labor. The EMB letterhead, however, revealed already the forgery because of a wrong address, that is, North Avenue instead of Visayas Avenue. Jasareno said Paje has already ordered an investigation into such violation and file appropriate charges against the perpetrators as evidence warrants. (SDR/Sunnex)
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 21:35:25 +0000
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