Unlicensed mines raise alarm in Bulacan town
DONYA REMEDIOS TRINIDAD, Bulacan—Small-scale mining operators, whose licenses were canceled by the late Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes in 2006, continue to operate in this town’s forest mountains, Mayor Rolando Flores said here.
He said he had received reports that four companies have pursued pocket-mining operations in watershed areas that could imperil the town. “They have not been concerned about how their operations could trigger denudation and flooding,” he said.
Flores said he informed Environment Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje about the illegal mine work taking place in the town’s mountains. He said only Ore Asia Mining Co. had been permitted to operate in the area. Ore Asia has acquired a 25-year mineral product sharing agreement.
Caught in the act
On Tuesday, Flores and a team of policemen and town employees caught mine workers hauling iron ore mined from neighboring San Ildefonso town as well as from Barangay Camachin here.
He said he had been acting on tips provided by residents of communities who object to the mine operations.
The trucks loaded with iron ore minerals were confiscated and kept at the municipal hall here.
Charges have been filed against the miners, although their employer, a former vice mayor, also filed a counter suit, claiming that the DRT team violated their rights.
Conflict of interest
Lawyer Rustico de Belen, Bulacan environment and natural resources officer, said local officials are not allowed to enforce environmental or mining laws without coordination with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
In the City of San Fernando in Pampanga, a leading mine critic said 17 local government units had imposed mining bans in their areas to protect communities and the environment from disasters and displacements.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño said the mining ban had been enforced in South Cotabato, Zamboanga del Norte, Romblon, Palawan, Iloilo and other Visayas and Mindanao provinces. Casiño held a news conference on Friday before attending a public forum on the proposed Mount Abo mining project in Porac town.
Peaceful people
An Aeta community has objected to the mining operations of Shuley Mine Inc. (SMI) in Porac.
Casiño said he expected “more violence and bloodshed” to take place as a result of the opposition of residents, the disposition of military and paramilitary troops in mineral-rich areas and the liberal mine industry policy enforced by the Aquino administration.
He said several indigenous communities, like the B’laans, have declared war or have armed themselves against mining concessions to defend their ancestral domains.
Sr. Vangie Madayag, convenor of the antimining coalition Ipamingwa, called on
President Aquino to order the withdrawal of soldiers from ancestral domains in western Pampanga because “Aetas live in peace.”
“They are a peaceful people,” she said.
Red tag
Those defending their lands against the mining project of SMI had been called rebels, she said, an issue that Edwin Abuque, the barangay captain of Camias, Porac, had confirmed.
“When SMI mines our uplands, we will lose our land, our crops. Our water will be contaminated with chemicals, the fishes will die, we will die. Even straight-haired people in the lowlands will die because the river heads down to Lubao,” Abuque said. Carmela Reyes-Estrope and Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon
