No more small-scale mining permits in Pantukan

PANTUKAN, Compostela Valley, Philippines—The local government here announced Saturday it will not renew any permit issued to mine tunnel operators following last Thursday’s landslide in the mining village of Napnapan that left at least 28 people dead and 36 others missing as of the latest count.

For the third time, officials corrected the number of missing after more relatives turned up at the disaster response office Friday afternoon to report that members of their families who were known to be at the mine site when the landslide struck at 3 a.m. Thursday were still unaccounted for.

The official numbers from Pantukan disaster response office as of 7 a.m. Saturday were:  28 bodies retrieved (23 identified; 5 unidentified);  16 rescued (6 still hospitalized); and 36 missing.

As in previous disasters in the area, the numbers keep shifting as officials say no one can ascertain the exact number of people in a gold-rush area at a given time because of the continuous movement, in and out, of prospectors.

“The number could still change,” said Major Jacob Obligado, spokesperson of the 10th Infantry Division, which is involved in the search-and-rescue work.

Meanwhile, Pantukan Mayor Celso Sarenas, announced his administration had no intention of renewing permits allowing prospectors to operate tunnels in the high-risk area.

“There will be no renewal of permits,” Sarenas told the Inquirer, noting that the temporary licenses issued to mine tunnel operators expired last December 31. Operators had until January 20 to secure new permits.

The decision not to renew the temporary permits, issued on a yearly basis, followed a directive from Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who visited the area on Friday,  to shut down all tunnels in high-risk areas of Pantukan and to forcibly evacuate small-scale miners there and their families.

Sarenas said that although thousands of people will be displaced by the closure of the tunnels, the local government has to enforce the order to ensure the safety of the miners and other people living in the  area.

Sarenas said he had the “political will” to enforce the order but added, “I also have a conscience.”

This meant, he said, that it would be difficult to enforce the evacuation order.

“For these people, it is better to die up there than die of hunger down here,” he said.

Dr. Arnulfo Lantaya, the municipal spokesperson, told the Inquirer earlier that with at least 20,000 people, based on MGB estimate, in the mining areas in Pantukan, it would be hard to implement Robredo’s order.

“I told the secretary that it is easy to say ‘close the tunnels and bring people down’, but it is hard to do it,” Lantaya said, adding that the municipal government had little over 100 employees compared to the total number of those in mining areas.

Logistically, the local government “cannot afford it,” he said

In terms of security, Lantaya said, “local government employees who will implement it will be at risk once the police and military have left the area.”

Sarenas said it would be a security nightmare for him and his family if he forced the people out of the mining areas, especially when his term as mayor ends.

“I would be an easy target. These people will get back at me,” he said.

Asked about talks around town that the Sarenas and some local officials were involved in mining, the mayor said, “That’s not true.”

Pressed to answer allegations that some local officials were financiers of mining operations, legal or not, the mayor said: “That I do not know.”

Lantaya also declined to comment on reports that several local government officials were involved in mining operations.

For Lantaya, closing the mining areas that make up 30 percent of Pantukan’s total land area of 56,000 hectares would not be a big loss for the local government’s coffers.

He said they get only P3,000 to P4,000 in mining permit fees from each tunnel per year.

“There are only around 300 legal tunnels, and we don’t earn much from them,” he said.

There are about 1,000 tunnels in the mining areas, but only around 300 actually have permits to operate.

Pantukan has a population of 70,000 people. According to the MGB, at least 20,000 people are into mining, including the miners’ families and those engaged in small community businesses like sari-sari stores and videoke bars.

Sarenas said if the tunnels were closed, it would also affect business establishments downtown, where traders in mining areas get their supplies.

He said hardest-hit would be the motorcycle drivers who earn at least P500 daily by transporting passengers.

And worse, he said, the town will go back what it was—it was known as a haven of poor people pushed to committing crimes.

“Balik hirap, balik krimen,” he said.

Sarenas claimed the New People’s Army also benefited from the mining activities in the area by forcing miners to give the rebels money.

“My estimate is P3 million to P4 million a month,” he said.

Sarenas said there were also claims that some NPA rebels themselves were engaged in actual mining.

Compostela Valley provincial board member Moran Takasan said people have always ignored the dangers in mining because of the need to earn a living to support their families.

“These people are just stubborn. We have been warning them not to build huts in disaster-prone mining areas in Pantukan but they do not listen,” he said.

Meanwhile, bad weather and the frequent threat of minor landslides slowed down the operation to locate more victims of Thursday’s disaster as heavy equipment could not easily move about due to space constraints. Rescuers had to manually dig to locate victims believed still buried under a thick layer of mud.

Lantaya said they they were still hoping to find more survivors.

Prior to the landslide, there was an influx of miners employed by Hexat Mining Corp. They had returned to their jobs after the New Year holiday, said Alie Mortejo, area operations manager of King Eagle Exploration Mining Corp. in nearby Barangay Boringot, who was helping in the search and rescue.

Hexat is owned by Noe Taojo, a local businessman. As in the case of other mining entities in Napnapan, Hexat’s temporary permit has also expired.

“He is one of the moneyed mining operators here,” Lantaya said.

Hexat’s tunnels are below the area hit by the landslides. Some of those covered by the landslide were bunkhouses belonging to Hexat miners.

“But most of those affected were houses of miners operating illegal tunnels,” Lantaya said.

Eight company guards were among those either dead or missing, said Mortejo.

“Two (of the guards) survived only because they were inside the tunnels doing their rounds during the disaster,” said Mortejo.