GK folk raise fears on mountain mining

AROROY, Masbate—In yet another case of communities on a collision course with mining, 61 families in a village here are pleading for a stop to exploration on land from where they draw their potable water.

Residents of Barangay Ambolong, beneficiaries of a Gawad Kalinga (GK) housing project in the village, said the exploration on a site atop Mount Pajo could contaminate their only source of potable water.

The firm Filminera Resources Corp. (FRC), which is conducting the exploration, said it was anticipating a dialogue with the villagers to explain to them the processes involved in mining and to address their concerns.

FRC holds a license issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), an agency under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, to explore 419.6 hectares of what is believed to be gold-rich land in this town.

It operates the Masbate Gold Project (MGP) with another firm, Philippine Gold Processing and Refining Corp.

The site of the exploration in Mt. Pajo overlooks the town proper of Aroroy. The GK village is below it.

In a letter to Igmedio Emilio Camposano, GK head in Masbate, villagers expressed apprehension that the ongoing exploration would also destroy farms where they grow vegetables and root crops.

“Our water source has been affected by the drilling. The water has turned murky,” said carpenter Bigildo Rapsing, 53, head of the neighborhood. He said while the community wasn’t against mining, people were apprehensive of its effects on their farms and source of water.

He said if Mt. Pajo “would be mined away, nothing would protect us and the town proper from typhoons and monsoon winds.”

Soil loosened by mining, he said, could fall on their houses and destroy them. Camposano told the villagers, who also work as gold panners, that small-scale mining operations are also dangerous for the community.

Camposano wrote to Aroroy Mayor Enrico Capinig last Aug. 1 relaying the villagers’ concern. The mayor relayed the message to FRC and wrote Camposano back to say he had requested the firm to stop the exploration.

Officials from the municipal environment and natural resources office (Menro), MGB, GK, FRC and residents inspected the exploration site on Aug. 11.

Menro official Juancho Collamar said in a report to the mayor that “the drilling … poses hazard to nearby farmers below the site of the drilling operations.”