Ecotourism sites to be spared from mining

LAOAG CITY—The government would exclude ecotourism sites from areas where mining would be allowed.

Roel Collado, head of the mine management division  of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Ilocos, said MGB was coordinating with the Department of Tourism (DOT) and local government units to identify ecotourism sites.

“We will plot these ecotourism sites in our maps as excluded from the mineral reservation areas so that they will be closed for mining exploration and development,” he said at a forum on the mineral industry held on May 10.

In Ilocos Norte for example, the DOT and local governments have yet to determine which areas are considered ecotourism sites, Collado said.

“But we are inclined to protect known tourism sites such as Adams, Burgos and the stretch of sand dunes in Laoag and Paoay as excluded from mineral reservations,” he said.

The MGB is consolidating the results of public consultations to identify mineral reservations in the towns of Vintar, Solsona, Carasi, Piddig, Nueva Era and Adams covering a total area of 61,203 hectares.

Collado said the public hearings had been completed and the MGB would submit a report to the DENR central office detailing the results.

He said the public hearings, which started in early January, were met with mixed reactions from the affected communities. Most residents in the six towns favored the identification of mineral reservations, except for Vintar where a strong opposition to the declaration was noted, he said.

Advocates of anti-mining operations in Vintar have been drumming up support for moves to oppose mining there. Cristina Arzadon, Inquirer Northern Luzon