Mining permits will not be renewed, says mayor
PANTUKAN, Compostela Valley, Philippines—Mayor Celso Sarenas on Saturday announced he would not be renewing temporary permits to build tunnels at the gold rush site in the town after a landslide on Thursday buried at least 28 people. At least 36 more are reported missing.
Sarenas said he had instructions from Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo to shut down all tunnels in high-risk areas and “forcibly” evacuate small-scale miners and their families.
At least 16 people had been rescued in the upland village of Napnapan. Six of them are still in the hospital.
Maj. Jacob Obligado, spokesperson of the 10th Infantry Division, said he expected the number of missing to rise as more relatives come in search of their kin.
“There will be no renewal of permits,” Sarenas told the Inquirer. The temporary permits issued to tunnel operators, including corporations, expired on Dec. 31 and tunnel operators were supposed to have until Jan. 20 to secure new permits, he said.
Sarenas admitted that it would be very difficult to enforce the evacuation order. “Thousands of people will be displaced when the tunnels are finally closed,” he said.
‘Better to die up there’
“For these people, it is better to die up there than die of hunger down here,” he said.
Sarenas said he would muster the “political will” to enforce the order but added, “I also have a conscience.”
Dr. Arnulfo Lantaya, the municipal spokesperson, earlier told the Inquirer that there were at least 20,000 people in the mining areas in Pantukan.
Lanuza said the municipal government had only a little over 100 employees compared to the tens of thousands who risk their lives at the gold rush site.
Logistically, the local government “cannot afford it,” he said, referring to the evacuation plan.
“Local government employees who will be tasked to implement the order will be at risk once the police and military leave the area,” Lantaya said.
Sarenas admitted that forcing the people out would be a personal security nightmare for him and his family once his term as mayor ends.
“I would be an easy target. These people will get back at me,” he said.
Asked about persistent rumors that he himself and some local officials were involved in mining, the mayor replied, “That’s not true.”
The mining areas make up 30 percent of Pantukan’s total land area of 56,000 hectares. But Lantaya said it would not be a big loss to the local government’s coffers.
He said the municipal government only gets P3,000 to P4,000 from mining permit fees from each tunnel per year.
‘Back to poverty, back to crime’
“There are only around 300 legal tunnels, and we don’t earn much from them,” he said.
There are about 1,000 tunnels in the mining areas, but only around 300 have permits to operate.
Pantukan has a population of 70,000. The 20,000 or so miners in the gold rush site include the miners’ families and those engaged in small community businesses like sari-sari stores and videoke bars.
If the tunnels were closed, it would also affect business establishments downtown, where traders in mining areas get their supplies, the mayor said.
Sarenas said to be hardest hit by this scenario would be the motorcycle drivers who earn at least P500 daily.
And worse, he said, the town will go back to what it was—known as a haven of poor people pushed to committing crimes.
“Balik hirap, balik krimen (Back to poverty, back to crime),” he said.
Sarenas said the communist New People’s Army also benefited from the mining activities in the area by forcing miners to give them money. “My estimate is P3 million to P4 million a month,” he said. Sarenas said there were also claims that some NPA rebels were themselves engaged in mining. Nico Alconaba, Germelina Lacorte and Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao
