Chinese miners freed after bail

The 13 Chinese nationals caught and detained on Friday at the Lagonoy municipal police jail for dynamite possession were temporarily freed on Monday afternoon after posting bail totaling P2.6 million.

They are now in the custody of the Chinese Embassy.

Provincial prosecutors indicted the Chinese on Saturday for violation of Republic Act No. 9516 or illegal possession of explosives.

Accompanied by policemen and the lawyers of Bicol Chromite and Manganese Corp. (BCMC), the Chinese each posted a P200,000 bail, Police Officer 2 Ronald Roa of Lagonoy police said. A representative from Chinese Embassy, Consul Shen Zicheng, came to Lagonoy and immediately took custody of the Chinese, Roa said.

The Chinese, who came from Fujian and Yunnan provinces in China and with ages ranging from 20 to 45, were identified as Liu Kaliao, Chen Wenlie, Yang Zhenyta, Gong Shenyin, Tiang Mingzhi, Gong Shejin, Huang Yuanbao, Tiun Yonghong, Liu Kaixiany, Xiong Guangshun, Luo Kaiqiang, Tiun Zhaoheng and Zhang Liuwen.

They were arrested by a composite team of police, the Army and Bantay Kalikasan Task Force members who raided a remote mining site in Sitio (sub-village) Binggit, Barangay (village)Himagtocon, of this town.

Police recovered 295 dynamite sticks, three blasting caps, 1.5 rolls of wire and clay sticks placed in two sacks and three cartons, according to Senior Police Officer 2 Leo Escalona, chief of the provincial bomb squad. Escalona said the dynamite sticks could demolish one big building in one blast.

He said the raid was prompted by a report from the town mayor that BCMC, which reportedly employed the arrested Chinese, was using dynamite in its operation.

The foreigners were committed to Judge Ma. Angela Arroyo of the Regional Trial Court Branch 58 in the neighboring town of San Jose.

Lagonoy Mayor Delfin Pilapil said he had sought the help of police and the Army because villagers near the mine site were complaining of explosions every night in Himagtocan, even during the Holy Week.

He said that BCMC violated the mining law because it was registered as a small-scale mining operation but appeared to be engaged in large-scale mining.

Pilapil said that since last year, he had asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to stop BCMC’s operations but there was no action.

“The mining operation in Himagtocon has already destroyed a wide portion of the mountain village which could result to landslides in the area,” he said.