Kids skip Friday classes to work in Sarangani gold mines

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – Pupils in villages near a gold-rich mountain in Maitum, Sarangani, skip classes on Fridays to attend to what they deem is a more important task – hauling soil and stones from mine tunnels.

Maitum Councilor Edgardo del Rosario said that in Sitio (sub-village) Kaffugan in Barangay (village) New La Union for example, children as a young as 12 troop to mining areas on Fridays to haul gold ore, at P5 per kilo, for crushing at three ball mills in the municipalities of Maitum and Kiamba.

In Kipalkuda Elementary School, only a few students attend classes on Fridays as many of them go to Sitio Kaffugan to work in the mine tunnels, Del Rosario said in a recent interview here.

The mines have also lured guides at the Barangay New La Union River tubing center.

River tubing is a type of white water sport where one shoots the rapids on the Pangi River on inflated inner-tire tubes or rubber boats.

“Our tourism here is affected. The number of river guides in New La Union river tubing has dwindled. From 34, the number is now down to six,” Del Rosario said.

The river guides were offered a P2,000 monthly stipend to work in the mining area.

Last week, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo came here and met with local and police officials to assess the disaster preparedness of local government units in Central Mindanao.

During the meeting, Robredo warned LGU, police and environment officials of sanctions if they failed to stop illegal logging and mining activities in their areas.

Lieutenant Ferdinand Ragos of the Army’s 73rd Infantry Battalion said despite the warning, illegal small-scale mining continues in the gold-rich mountain in Sitio Kaffugan.

“There are already 18 mine tunnels there,” he said, adding that the identities of their operators were a mystery.

Ragos said the Army recently apprehended six illegal miners but they were mum on who their bosses were.

Ragos said the tunnels inside a three hectare area in Kaffugan were just five to seven feet away from each other.

“There’s a big possibility that landslide would occur during heavy rains,” he said.

Ragos said a more serious disaster could be in the offing as soldiers manning a detachment in Kaffugan also noticed a 50-meter-long fissure, three inches wide, on the mountain slope where the mining is taking place.

The problem, he said, was compounded by the widespread cutting of trees, the wood being used as support for the tunnels.

Del Rosario said another problem that the mining activities brought into New La Union was the polarization of the residents.

“Pro-mining residents are no longer in talking terms with their anti-mining neighbors,” he said.