SAVE NATURE Residents of Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, armed with handmade posters including one that says “save nature,” declare their objection to the ongoing mining exploration in Sitio Tarog, Barangay San Francisco of the town in a protest rally on April 12, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Jay Ragay)
DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines — Government officials and residents of Sta. Catalina town in Negros Oriental province were demanding the national government to put a stop to the mining exploration in Sitio Tarog, Barangay San Francisco of the municipality.
Sta. Catalina Mayor Peve Ligan said the mining exploration was not only damaging to the environment but has also put at risk the lives of residents in the area.
“My administration never gave the go signal for a mining exploration in our place. In fact, we are against it,” she told reporters on Monday.
Ligan said the municipal government has formed a task force to investigate the exploration activity, which, she said, was located near the Southern Negros Fault, an active fault line.
“Our hearts bleed because the mountain that we so loved will be abused and exploited,” she said.
According to Ligan, the mining exploration conducted by Midan Corp. started two weeks ago and covered 844 hectares of land in Sta. Catalina, a first-class municipality with population of 77,501 people, based on the 2020 census.
Exploration permit
The Inquirer tried but failed to reach the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for a statement. It also sent an email to Midan Corp. but the firm had yet to respond to the request for an interview as of Tuesday.
Documents secured by Ligan showed that the firm obtained a license to explore from the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau on March 12, 2018.
At that time, Ligan said she was not yet the mayor of Sta. Catalina but had already heard of the mining project.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the country in 2020, the mining exploration did not push through but Midan Corp.’s license to explore the area was renewed in 2021, Ligan said.
The mayor said she wrote a letter to the DENR and Midan Corp., expressing her concern over the exploration and asked them to stop the project but her plea was ignored.
“They (DENR and Midan) did not believe what we are telling them. The mining exploration still continues,” Ligan said.
Local residents have been conducting rallies to express their sentiments against the exploration project, the mayor said.
Ligan also pointed out that Sitio Tarong, the subvillage where the mining operation was being conducted, had been declared by the municipal council as a tourist destination.
The area, she added, was also home to fruit and vampire bats, waterfalls, and a cave system, among others.
The area is also an ancestral domain of the indigenous group Bukidnon, the mayor said.