YES, after three decades, the ghosts of the tragic Marcopper incident continue to haunt the province of Marinduque and to spotlight the role of politics in the delay of its final verdict.
To this day, many continue to ask what happened to the ecological disaster that took lives and rendered two rivers “biologically dead.”
On Dec. 6, 1993, a siltation dam in Marinduque’s Mogpog town collapsed and flooded nearby communities with toxic residues of heavy metals and silt.
The earthen dam was built in 1991 in the Mogpog River’s mountainous headwaters to keep silt from a waste dump at Marcopper’s San Antonio mine out of the river. The residents of Mogpog opposed it in 1990, but Marcopper was allowed to build it the next year.
Two children were killed in that disaster and at least 70 families in the riverside community were affected, as mud floods wiped out homes, killed livestock, destroyed crops, and contaminated farmlands.
For three decades, Marinduqueños waited for someone to answer for the tragedy.
In April 2025, the province and Barrick Mining Corp., which acquired Marcopper, signed a $100-million settlement. The Court of Appeals (CA) approved it in October of that year.
That story should not be lost in the din of the political squabble that has engulfed the settlement funds. Reports showed that Barrick Mining had initially attempted to settle for $10 million, which it later raised to $20 million. The province declined the offer.
The $100-million agreement that finally emerged was handled by the province's private counsel, SedaLAW, engaged under a legal services agreement in March 2022. The CA approved it on Oct. 3, 2025, closing a legal fight that had run for nearly three decades.
That massive settlement won by SedaLAW should have been the start of the massive repair and rehabilitation of the local environment. Sadly, that, instead, became the start of a domestic squabble. Instead of a rehabilitation plan, Marinduqueños got a political brawl.
It will be recalled that Marinduque Gov. Melecio Go filed criminal and administrative complaints at the Ombudsman against a former vice governor and eight sitting provincial board members over the province's legal arrangements regarding the proceeds of the settlement. None of the allegations and counter-allegations have been proven.
Interestingly, the problem is not a shortage of money. An initial $50.71 million (approximately P3.2 billion) have already reportedly been transferred to the provincial trust fund.
What appears to be missing is a plan: who sets priorities, who oversees the spending, and whether residents receive direct compensation.
Can Marinduque afford a protracted political conflict? Well, science warns it cannot.
Several years ago, scientists from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi tested sediment pore water around Marinduque. They found toxic pore water near the Calancan tailings causeway; elevated cadmium, cobalt, copper, nickel, lead and zinc; and coral smothered by silt.
The human cost is also documented. Dr. Lynn Crisanta Panganiban of the University of the Philippines' National Poison Management and Control Center has described the exposure around Calancan Bay as slow, low-level contamination over time.
These are not partisan claims; they come from government and university scientists.
A report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism revealed that four Santa Cruz villages near the bay have a high incidence of heavy-metal poisoning among children. The same report noted that millions of tons of waste still lie in the Mogpog River and Calancan Bay, and that more could spill if abandoned mine structures are not repaired.
The delay aggravates the situation. The financial proceeds of the settlement could have helped reverse the situation.
The settlement is a rare chance, won after three decades, to begin undoing the damage. It will not be won twice.
This must be why civil society is angry.
On Sept. 28, residents, environmental advocates and church leaders gathered at the provincial capitol to call for the issuance of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) communication necessary to finalize the settlement. The bishop of Boac joined the appeal. Fortunately, the DENR subsequently issued the required communication.
Their anger is understandable. They have attended 30 years of commemorations of the 1990s tragedy. They are now left to watch their leaders argue over procedure and blame.
Marinduque has waited 30 years. The river does not care who wins the argument. It only needs its leaders to stop fighting and start the work.