Bautista reiterated the call of environmental activists nationwide to stop Lafayette’s operations in Rapu-Rapu. “All of these cases only indicate that Lafayette is doing more harm to the residents and local government of Rapu-Rapu. The project must be terminated before it becomes more of a total bane to the lives of the Rapu-Rapu folk,” Bautista said.

“Unfortunately, the Arroyo administration and the DENR continue to treat Lafayette with kid gloves. If the government continues to accommodate such an errant investor such as Lafayette in its pursuit of the mining liberalization policy of Arroyo, we can expect more environmental and economic woes to befall mining-affected communities nationwide ,” Bautista said.

“As a staunch defender of foreign mining interests, the Arroyo administration continues to sacrifice the interests of the environment and the people of Rapu-Rapu. Unless there is a fundamental change in policy and leadership, we can not expect the deplorable situation in Rapu-Rapu and in other mining areas to drastically change ,” Bautista said.(Bulatlat.com)

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