The fact-finding group learned that the residents of the said villages could no longer catch fish from the Agno River and the San Roque Dam since the fishes have left their grounds due to murky waters.
Residents also confirmed earlier reports of trees and plants destroyed by the surge of tailings from the Tailings Pond 3 (TP3) which gave way earlier in August.
Itogon Mayor Oscar Camantiles said, "For over a month now, the people could not continue with their gold panning activities until the water level goes down."
Throughout the interviews with local government officials, affected residents, and the government’s Environmental Bureau, the fact finding mission was told that "the breach
in Philex mines’ Tailings Pond 3 has not been resolved up to this day. Thus, tailings from TP3 continue to flow to the Balog and Agno rivers leading to the San Roque Dam that serves as catch basin for the tailings.”
While the extent of the breach in Philex Mining Corp.'s TP3 structure is not yet known, Eddie Amuasen, barangay chairman of Ampucao, also in Itogon, has described the hole being plugged by Philex to be really huge and that the company attempted to plug the leak using bulldozers and other heavy equipment but even this did not work.
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