Marinduque case vs Placer Dome/Barrick Gold

Legal counsel Walter J. Scott

A month after the SP issued Resolution No. 264 in. 2005, authorizing Gov. Carmencita Reyes to enter into a special outside appointment and engagement contract with legal counsel Walter J. Scott on the lawsuit against Placer Dome, Inc., the same SP amended the said Resolution through Res. No. 306 s. 2005, lifting the cap imposed on the maximum reimbursable amount of the outside legal counsel.

So, the board members at that time changed their minds and found it sensible and fair to lift the cap as it would “give Placerdome (sic) an undue leverage by pushing the team of lawyers to exhaust all its resources to the detriment and disadvantage of the province of Marinduque; and further diminish the momentum and enthusiasm of the lawyers who will be part of the case”.

Resources.

Then there’s that much ballyhooed $12 million escrow supposed to have been deposited by Placer Dome “in a bank in Hongkong known only to select government and Marcopper officials”, according to board member Allan Nepomuceno. Read.  But he said then that government authorities had to” work double time” because even if authorities had agreed that the repair of Marcopper’s Makulapnit Dam that was in “imminent danger of collapsing” was to be funded by the escrow money, DENR engineer Mike Cabalda stated during the meeting “that the escrow fund is about to expire next year (2007)".

On March 25, 2007, the Philippine Daily Inquirer ran an article ('Marinduque dad unhappy over pace of suit vs mining firm'), on the contract with the U.S. lawyer who “will be paid 10 percent of the first $15 million recovered, with reimbursement of expenses from the first $15 million not to exceed $500,000 to 40 percent of the next $35 million of recovery or 33 percent of any recovery above $50 million.” Among others, the article also stated that if the counsel withdraws for cause, “he will be entitled to reimbursement of expenses and costs he advanced from any recovery and payment of the contingent fees from any recovery attributed to counsel’s efforts prior to withdrawal and 20 percent of any other and further recovery thereafter”.

Provincial board member Mel Go at that time also said that the stipulated compensation package “was detrimental to the province because Scott was able to persuade the provincial government to attach to the contract the $15 million escrow fund deposited in 2001 by Placer Dome in a financial institution intended for the rehabilitation of the Boac River”, the PDI article stated.

“With the compensation provisions of the contract, Scott is already assured of getting 10 percent from the $15 million escrow fund which is already in place at the time that he signed the agreement to represent the province. That fund is intended for the rehabilitation of the river and should not be included in the contract at all,” Go continued.

No one seems to be talking now about the fate or status of that $12 million escrow originally intended for clean up of the Boac River, nor anyone further probed the propriety or legality of attaching the escrow to the contract with the lawyer, if true, as stated in the said article. 

Secrets, then stunning surprises next, just like in the old days?