TUGUEGARAO CITY?Environment advocates on Thursday expressed alarm over reports that huge waves from the Babuyan Channel in northern Cagayan province have begun to crash into residential areas in coastal towns, as Typhoon ?Ramil? made its slow approach to northern Luzon Friday.

This as officers of the Alliance of Buguey Committed for Development Association (Albucoda), a people?s organization based in Buguey town, called on the government to immediately stop the reported extraction of magnetite sand from the beaches of Aparri, Buguey and Gonzaga towns.

?The reports that houses have now been washed away by raging waves bares truth to the fears that we have raised earlier that if these mining operations are not stopped, the sea will come to shore and drown the people,? said Gensun Agustin, Albucoda information officer.

Magnetite is a black iron oxide mineral that is often mined as an ore of iron, and commonly used as an additive for high-strength concrete, such as for building foundations.

Offshore

Agustin lamented that mining operations continued offshore in Barangay Minanga Este in Buguey town just days after floods caused by Typhoon ?Pepeng? hit the province early this month.

The Inquirer tried but failed to reach Laureano Lingan Jr., regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), for comment as he was reportedly on an official trip abroad.

But Mario Ancheta, regional director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), downplayed the group?s charges.

?That claim (that mining has contributed to the flooding) needs to be presented with proof and supported by a study,? he said.

Ancheta also dismissed reports that extraction had been ongoing in recent days.

In a separate interview, lawyer Gil Aromin, DENR legal officer, also urged the group to show evidence that magnetite sand mining was actually happening on the northern shorelines of the province so the DENR can investigate.

Sought for comment, Cagayan Gov. Alvaro Antonio expressed disgust over reports that mining operations for magnetite have been ongoing along the northern coasts of the province.

Permit

?That is a lie. There are no mining or dredging operations in our coastal areas. If indeed there are, and these are being done legally, it is not the provincial government that issued their permit,? Antonio said.

But he said he has ordered Senior Supt. Moro Lazo, Cagayan police director, to investigate the reports.

MGB records showed that the agency has issued a permit for Colossal Mining Corp. to conduct exploration activities for magnetite sand in offshore areas of Sanchez Mira, Pamplona, Abulug, Ballesteros, Aparri, Buguey and Gonzaga towns, with a total area of 13,483.8 hectares.

Arturo Alariao, council member of Minanga Este village in Buguey, said barges that were extracting sand about 100 meters offshore were seen by residents last week, just days after Pepeng struck.

?The barges were operating with a suction machine that extracts magnetite sand from the bed of the sea, and sifts the ore from the sand,? he said showing a video clip of the activity taken by one of the residents there.

Albucoda officials cited the recent flooding in at least three coastal villages in Pamplona town, the supposed sites of magnetite sand extractions earlier this year.

Aromin, however, said no large-scale mining permit has been issued to Colossal.

?If ever it is true that there are actual mining operations, what I know is that the permits that these companies are using were small-scale mining permits issued by the provincial government,? he said.