Chinese firm yields to people power

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—A Chinese company has cut down what used to be its round-the-clock black sand mining operations in Gonzaga town in Cagayan, following mounting pressure from affected residents who blocked the firm’s access roads for two nights this week.

Dump trucks used by Huaxia Mining and Trading Corp. for its magnetite mining activities had stopped their trips at night beginning on Jan. 25, bringing relief to villagers of Calayan and Batangan, said Imelda Genita, a resident.

“We are glad that they finally heeded our call, and we can now perhaps sleep soundly at night. So, it can be done, after all,” she said, alluding to the intervention of local officials.

Villagers hope the work suspension is not temporary, she said. For two nights since Monday, Calayan residents picketed the road intersection leading to Huaxia’s processing plant and had blocked dump trucks which hauled extracted black sand to and from the plant.

Residents complained that the engine noise created by passing trucks had been depriving them of much-needed sleep. The trucks’ spilling cargo of sand has also been stirring up dirty air in the neighborhood, they said.

Huaxia is one of four companies  granted permits by the Cagayan provincial government to conduct what were supposed to be small-scale mining operations for magnetite sand from sites located in 20 of the town’s 25 villages.

Villagers in nearby Batangan were reportedly poised to put up a separate blockade after Huaxia’s trucks began taking an alternate road there to skirt the Calayan barricade.

The brewing tension in the area prompted Stephen Garmaand and Redentor Malupeng, village chairs of Calayan and Batangan, to hold talks with Huaxia’s site managers. They urged the firm to comply with an unwritten agreement that they should suspend their nighttime operations.

Gonzaga Mayor Carlito Pentecostes Jr. said more drastic measures would have to be imposed against the company, which had not been heeding the government’s earlier requests to suspend midnight trucking of black sand.

“I have issued an executive order imposing a curfew on the transport of black sand from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., except when (the companies) are trying to meet a shipping deadline. We will arrest (mining workers) who will not comply,” the mayor said.

He said local leaders had difficulty dealing with the Huaxia management, and had described its site officials as “stubborn.” Pentecostes said only one of the managers spoke a little English.

The Environmental Management Bureau sent a team to the area to validate the complaints and study if sanctions would be slapped against Huaxia for possible violations of its environmental compliance certificate.

“Sanctions may be in the form of a fine, depending on the extent of the violations. The cancellation of the ECC may only be imposed after the company has been found to have committed its third offense,” saidCarlos Magno, EMB Cagayan Valley director. Melvin Gascon, Inquirer Northern Luzon

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