Caramoan declared mining-free zone

Lahuy Island INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

NAGA CITY—Less than a month after four small-scale miners were shot and killed on Lahuy Island in Caramoan, Camarines Sur, the provincial board approved an ordinance declaring Caramoan a “quarrying and mining-free zone.”

The ordinance, authored by Board Member Amador Simando and promulgated on April 11, cited destructive effects on the environment as reason for the ban on all forms of quarrying and mining operations.

But it allows exemption for quarrying in areas covered by permits already issued by the provincial government to clear clogged water systems, flood drainage, and for extracting boulders, rocks, sand and gravel for construction materials for domestic purposes.

Violators will be punished with imprisonment not exceeding one year or fines not exceeding P5,000, or both, at the discretion of the court.

Earlier, officials of Barangay Gata in Lahuy, where the miners were killed on March 22, had asked the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to declare the village a “Minahang Bayan.”

Republic Act No. 7076, or the Act Creating People’s Small-Scale Mining Program (PSSMP), allows for a Minahang Bayan permit to be given to a community upon approval of the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB), which is composed of the MGB regional director as chair, governor as vice chair, and representatives from small-scale and large-scale miners and a nongovernment organization as members.

Theodore Rommel Pestaño, director of MGB in Bicol, said that in cases of conflict between enacted laws, the national law would prevail over the local ordinance and a compromise must be reached.

Pestaño said the processing of a permit for the Minahang Bayan in Gata was continuing while deficiencies in documentary requirements were still being prepared. He said, however, that the PMRB had yet to convene to decide on Gata’s request.

The MGB official said he had learned about the provincial ordinance from Governor Miguel Luis Villafuerte, who called him up.

Section 6 of the ordinance authorizes the provincial board to declare and set aside people’s small-scale mining areas in on-shore sites, subject to a review by the environment secretary.

The ordinance cited several laws as bases for declaring Caramoan a mining and quarrying-free zone.

Proclamation No. 291, issued on July 20, 1938, established the Caramoan National Park, while Proclamation No. 651 (Sept. 14, 1995) adopted Bicol’s tourism plan. Republic Act No. 9445 declared the islands of Lahuy, Cotivas, Guinahuan, Luksuhin, Malibagan and Masag in Caramoan as tourist zones.

Moreover, Executive Order No. 79, series of 2013, declared tourism development areas and other critical areas as island ecosystems closed to mining applications.