LGU power over small-scale mining limited, says SC
By Tetch Torres-Tupas
Local government’s power over small scale mining contracts in their areas is not absolute, the Supreme Court said.
Local government’s power over small scale mining contracts in their areas is not absolute, the Supreme Court said.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR) in Bicol said there has been no resistance to an order to shut down illegal mining operations in Paracale but a group which said they represent small-scale miners in the town said otherwise.
Two small-scale miners were killed after a gold mine tunnel collapsed in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur on Saturday, police said Monday.
Politicians involved in small-scale mining in Davao Oriental are opening themselves up to charges, according to an official of one of the government’s mining regulatory agency.
For some residents, Paracale is like Endora in Johnny Depp’s movie “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” It is a place where people are busy, yet nothing much happens.
A mining company has filed graft charges against Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and other provincial officials at the Ombudsman for allowing small-scale miners to take over its mines in the province and haul off its stockpile of minerals.
The much-anticipated new mining policy of the Aquino administration may very well spell the end of the “pick and shovel” practice of small-scale miners, according to Compostela Valley Gov. Arturo Uy.
The 13 Chinese nationals caught and detained on Friday at the Lagonoy municipal police jail for dynamite possession were temporarily freed on Monday afternoon after posting bail totaling P2.6 million.
A mining firm has assailed Zambales Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. for allegedly allowing small-scale mining firms in the province to gather and export the firm’s chromite stockpile in Masinloc, Zambales.
Whenever they hear the pitter-patter of rain falling at night, the women and children of Sitio Diat Palo could hardly sleep.
As the debate between environmentalists and promining groups rages, the Court of Appeals has upheld the authority of President Aquino to void the “midnight deal” then outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo entered into with a Canadian mining firm that allowed the latter to engage in large-scale mineral exploration in three towns in Palawan.
The government is poised to allow small-scale mining to continue in the country despite the dangers this poses to both people and the environment.
Two small-scale miners drowned early on Sunday after seawater rushed into a mining pit they dug close to the shore in the coastal village of Palanas in Paracale, Camarines Norte, where they had been mining for gold, the top police official in the northernmost province of Bicol region said.
