No compromise on mine leak—Aquino
By DJ Yap, Riza Olchondra
President Benigno Aquino III’s marching orders to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje brooked no argument: Do not compromise on the environment.
President Benigno Aquino III’s marching orders to Environment Secretary Ramon Paje brooked no argument: Do not compromise on the environment.
A team of environment and mining experts, as well as indigenous people and church groups, have cleared the San Roque Metals Inc. (SRMI) of environmental violation charges coming from local politicians in Agusan del Norte.
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone has filed a bill seeking to declare the province as mining-free.
BEFORE taking another step, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama wants to validate reports about the presence of whale sharks in the city’s coastal areas.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Eastern Visayas is investigating the reported illegal gold mining activities in Southern Leyte and in Eastern Samar.
ABOUT 10 towns each were identified as flood-prone and landslide prone areas in Cebu, according to a geohazard map that will soon be released by the Provincial Planning Development Office (PPDO).
There’ll be no more excuses. Very soon, with the click of a mouse, you’ll be able to access government geohazard maps and tell if you should move because your village lies within a danger zone.
They have lived in poverty for long and would rather embrace the valley of death than leave the gold-rich mountains of Pantukan town in Compostela Valley.
As the province continued to experience erratic but heavy monsoon rains, flash floods threatened to inundate the towns of Boac and Mogpog, not just from a leaky Marinduque Copper Mining Corp. (Marcopper) dam but also from a siltation dam “in imminent danger of collapsing” and an abandoned open pit filled with millions of cubic meters of water and mine wastes.
The government has rejected at least 131 mining applications since November mainly because of the applicants’ failure to acquire prior consent from communities where the mining operations will be located, according to a ranking mining official.
President Benigno Aquino III did not grant any new exemptions to the total log ban other than what is spelled out in Executive Order No. 23, the head of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said on Saturday, allaying fears the mining industry had been exempted from the ban.
The government plans to resume accepting and processing mining applications to attract investors, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said on Wednesday at the mining industry’s annual conference. “The immediate action plan now is to lift the moratorium on the acceptance and grant of mining applications,” Paje said. He said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources [...]
ABOUT 15 stone-cutting and processing plant operators in Cordova town and Lapu-Lapu City were ordered closed by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) for failing to secure a quarry permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. “The issuance of the cease-and-desist orders came after an inventory and investigation conducted by the bureau of [...]
