Small-scale miners seek gov’t help for livelihood

DAVAO CITY—Small-scale miners in Southern Mindanao are pressing the government for assistance to develop their livelihood instead of pressuring them into closing their mining areas.

In a rally in front of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) regional office here on Friday, some 100 miners, mostly from Compostela Valley, called on the government to stop taking a “pro-foreign mining” stance.

While the government pampers foreign and large-scale companies with financial assistance, including tax holidays of up to 10 years, it also exerts effort to kill the small-scale mining industry, they said. They cited government orders shutting down small-scale mining areas in many areas in Mindanao while encouraging large-scale investments.

Emelinda Bala, secretary of the Federation of Small-Scale Miners of Compostela Valley, said what the government should do is to legislate a pro-people Mining Act instead to help local miners grow.

“Since its passage into law (Mining Act of 1995), small-scale miners never received help that will develop the local mining industry,” Bala said.

On the contrary, she said, the government launched a campaign to stifle small-scale mining, citing the closure of mining areas in Pantukan, Compostela Valley, which were recently hit by landslides.

“The double-standard policy of the government in forcing us to close our tunnels while allowing the exploration of foreign and large-scale mining corporations to continue in Compostela Valley is despicable,” Bala said.

Noel Angeles, officer in charge of the mining environment and safety division of the MGB in Southern Mindanao, said the small-scale miners were wrong to think the government was not concerned about their plight.

But he acknowledged that the government had been discouraging mining in identified danger zones.

“We have to regulate the operations and support each other,” he said, adding that disaster prevention was the government’s primary goal.

Angeles said the government was encouraging large-scale mining because big companies had the financial and technical capability to develop mining areas.—Karlos Manlupig