PAGADIAN CITY,
Zamboanga del Sur, Feb. 5 (PNA) -– The Atro Mining-Vitali, Inc. (AMVI) has
denied that the firm’s exploration activities are causing the White Spots
Syndrome Virus (WSSV) infestation in some of the fishponds in Barangay Vitali,
Zamboanga City.
AMVI corporate
communication officer Antonio Manaytay said linking the reported infestations
to the AMVI explorations “is a product of hasty, irresponsible and sweeping
generalizations without taking into consideration a wider picture where prawn
and shrimp farmers in Zamboanga Sibugay and Sarangani provinces had also
observed the same deaths of stocks.”
Manaytay issued the
statement as he noted that the Zamboanga City agriculture office through its
Field Office No. 6 has already warned prawn farmers in Barangay Vitali of a
possible outbreak and infestation of WSSV on the shrimp farming industry with
the onset of hot weather.
He said that Tabal is
aware of the possible onset of WSSV infestations “during this time of the year
and last year, and is likely to hit again this year the local prawn farming
industry.”
He said that similar
occurrence was also observed in nearby the nearby Zamboanga Sibugay province
where farmers reported deaths of prawns and shrimps due to “white spots.”
Zamboanga Sibugay
Governor Wilter Palma has already directed all agricultural technicians to
closely monitor the reports of prawn farmers in his province about “white
spots” infestation.
Manaytay said that a
prawn and shrimp farmer in General Santos City named Joy Mahinay Provido has
confirmed that the same problem has also affected the prawn farmers in nearby
Sarangani province.
“Amid this threat to
the fishpond sector, which is also happening elsewhere, our company is saddened
by the recent events as it affects the livelihood of Barangay Vitali residents
especially those who rely on the fishpond industry. However, it is
disheartening to note that this unfortunate incident is being linked by some
people, for whatever reasons, to our company as the cause of the said viral
infestations,” Manaytay said.
“This is to inform
the public that the company has nothing to do with the reported infestations of
fishpond products within Barangay Vitali. Our company categorically and
vehemently denies all these unfounded allegations and hasty generalizations
without first looking at the facts and making scientific investigations,” he
added.
He reiterated that
the AMVI is still on the exploration stage of its iron ore project in Barangay
Vitali, 73 kilometers east of this city.
He said the AMVI is
not using any form of chemicals in the conduct of “our exploration activities.”
More so, Manaytay
said the AMVI is also taking quarterly water samples within the river systems
of Vitali for monitoring and compliance of water quality as per DAO No. 34 of
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Manaytay said that
any attempt to link the firm to the WSSV infestation is simply absurd and
preposterous since the iron ores will be mined and processed without the need
of chemical to recover the iron once they would start mining operation.
“In the spirit of
transparency and to underline our commitment to Responsible Mining Principles,
our company will support any investigation on this matter or even the conduct
of a scientific study to really find out the problem and solve this issue, once
and for all, in order to help our local businessmen on the fishpond industry
and also the residents of Vitali,” Manaytay said.
“We are opening the
area under our Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) to the city
government of Zamboanga, concerned national government agencies, and the media
to visit our project site in order to find out the activities that we are doing
and to finally decide whether we have done something that can be linked to the
cases at hand,” Manaytay added. (PNA)
LAP/TPGJR/HIROHITO D. CADION/UTB
LAP/TPGJR/HIROHITO D. CADION/UTB
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