Compostela miners defy gov’t, reopen tunnels

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Defying the government on grounds their families were starving, a number of small-scale miners have reopened gold mine tunnels in Compostela Valley where at least 36 people, including children, were killed by twin landslides in January, representatives of the miners said Friday.

The Inquirer tried repeatedly but failed to obtain a reaction from Compostela Valley Gov. Arturo Uy on the defiance of the miners in Barangay Napnapan in Pantukan, Compostela Valley.

Belen Galleto, secretary general of the Save Pantukan alliance, which supports the small scale miners, said the tunnels opened were far from Sitio Diat Uno, site of January’s deadly landslides.

The government has declared a no-habitation policy on landslide-prone areas of Pantukan, including Napnapan, since the landslides and ordered the closure of mine tunnels there.

Paciano Banuelos, one of the defiant miners, said in a text message to the Inquirer that at least 11 tunnels had been reopened starting 10 a.m. Wednesday despite incessant rains.

“Our families are going hungry, it’s becoming unbearable,” Banuelos said.

He said they could not wait for the promise of alternative livelihoods that the government made when the tunnels were closed.

“We cannot just sit here and watch our families starve,” Banuelos said.

Reminded about the danger of landslides in Napnapan, as the Mines and Geosciences Bureau had warned of, Banuelos said what they reopened were tunnels “safe enough” to dig for gold in.

“We did not open tunnels close to Diat Uno and those near land cracks,” he said.

Diat Uno is the site of the January landslides.

When the no-habitation policy was issued in the aftermath of the calamity, many miners stayed on in Napnapan.

On Wednesday, a government demolition team was supposed to tear down more shanties to prevent people from living there but heavy rains prevented them from going to the area, Galleto said.

The people in Sitio Diat Palo, which faces Diat Uno, had prepared to put up a human barricade on Wednesday to prevent the government demolition team from carrying out the mayor’s order to dismantle their houses but the demolition crews did not come, she said.

Banuelos said that instead of the human barricade, the miners decided to reopen their tunnels.