Idle mines eyed for ‘Minahang Bayan’

BAGUIO CITY—Mine regulators have started purging their list of idle mine claims or abandoned mines to free up land for the applications for pocket mining zones, or “Minahang Bayan.”

Most of the Minahang Bayan applications fall within existing mine claims, some of which have not been active for decades, according to Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan. Others are located in restricted areas, such as watersheds and national park reservations, he said.

This was one of the reasons why the Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board (PMRB) had been unable to speed up the identification of a Minahang Bayan in the province, said Fongwan, who also chairs the PMRB.

Faye Apil, Cordillera director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and cochair of the PMRB, said the agency was reviewing Benguet’s list of mining claims to identify which may be canceled.

It would be trickier for mine claims belonging to big companies, Fongwan said.

“In order to be declared a Minahang Bayan, the applicants need to get the consent of the mine claim holders. This makes it more difficult for them,” he said.

According to MGB data, Benguet pocket miners have applied for 32 Minahang Bayan sites as of 2013. Eleven are along Naguillan Road in Tuba town while the rest are in Itogon town, where Benguet Corp.’s Antamok Mine and Philex Mining Corp.’s Padcal Mine are found.

Tuba hosts a portion of the Padcal mines. Mankayan town hosts Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co.

“We have already identified the mine claims that lack requirements. We have recommended some for cancellation but we also have to respect [the claim owners’] right to due process. Some of these claims are under appeal,” Apil said.

“Even if the [Minahang Bayan] application falls within a mine claim, there is still hope. They just need to negotiate with the claim owner on the royalty, as required by law,” said Alfredo Genetiano, Cordillera chief of the MGB mines management division.

But a pocket mining federation said the government should consider creating small Minahang Bayan zones to help speed up the licensing of small-scale mining operators.

Minahang Bayan applications are hampered by land patents issued by the American colonial government in the early 1900s, said Lomino Kaniteng, president of the Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners Associations.

“Instead of locating one big piece of land, the government may as well recognize smaller pockets of mining areas, so that miners there can finally be licensed and pay taxes,” Kaniteng said. Kimberlie Quitasol, Inquirer Northern Luzon