Artisanal mine operators defy governor’s cease order

SMALL SCALE Policemen and workers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources wait to enforce a cease order at the entrance of a mining tunnel in Rosario town, Agusan del Sur. —CHRIS V. PANGANIBAN

BUNAWAN, Agusan del Sur—A small-scale miners’ group continued to defy a government drive to close illegal mining tunnels in the gold rush areas of this town and neighboring Rosario town and an ultimatum issued by Gov. Adolph Edward Plaza.

Leaders of Co-o Small Scale Miners Association (Cossma) refused to sign and receive the cease and desist order (CDO) issued by Plaza, which was served by a provincial task force in Bunawan and Rosario towns during an operation in the mining areas.

Plaza issued the order after the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) recommended the closure of at least 84 illegal tunnels in Rosario and 31 in Bunawan.

The closure order came after probe teams found unsafe working conditions and hazardous wastes in the area.

Collective decision

Tunnels closed for about a month but the miners had resumed operations since.

Most tunnel operators who defied the order belonged to Cossma, a group known to be under the control of the Abulog clan.

When the provincial task force went to the mining area in the village of Consuelo in Bunawan, Cossma leader Alejandro Abulog refused to receive or recognize the closure order, saying his group needed to have a collective decision on it.

A tunnel operator, Joselito Boyonas, cried harassment.

Francisca Jumagbas, Cossma secretary, said the group had been struggling for its right to mine in the area.

A Supreme Court decision rejecting the group’s application for a People’s Mining permit did not mean an order for the group to cease operating the mining tunnels, Jumagbas said.

No authority

“If we receive this, it’s as if we approve the CDO,” said Admaziah Cadlum, a Cossma member.

She said the group didn’t recognize the authority of the provincial task force but only of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Other miners, though, agreed to cease operations to heed Plaza’s order.

The governor had offered an alternative livelihood program to the miners under his Upland Sustainable Agroforestry Development (Usad) project.

Maria Angelita Salome Acopiado, chief of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office, said her office was now working on Usad programs like fruit tree production, falcata tree farming and coco coir production but some of the miners preferred to operate the illegal tunnels.