Offshore mining puzzles Cagayanos

BAYOMBONG, NUEVA VIZCAYA—Residents of Cagayan province were demanding answers from the government on how an offshore mining operation was allowed in waters off Gonzaga town without consultation with local communities.

Gonzaga fishermen learned about the ongoing offshore drilling by a company, JDVC Resources Corp., through social media, where they saw photos of a barge with drilling equipment some 5 kilometers from the shore in the village of Amunitan.

Amunitan is one of Gonzaga’s coastal villages.

“Whoever allowed this must answer to the people whose livelihood will be lost because of mining,” complained fisherman Ernesto Orpilla, who saw the photos spreading in social media.

As big as Metro Manila

JDVC was granted a mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) to conduct offshore mining for magnetite sand on 11,840 hectares of municipal waters along the Cagayan towns of Sanchez-Mira, Pamplona, Abulug, Ballesteros, Aparri, Buguey and Gonzaga, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

Saying the JDVC activities were exploratory, Mario Ancheta, acting MGB Cagayan Valley director, said the MPSA was issued on June 9, 2010, by then Environment Secretary Horacio Ramos.

A total of five MPSAs had been issued for offshore mining in the northern coast of Cagayan, covering a total of about 536 square kilometers—an area almost the same size as Metro Manila.

The MGB director, however, parried criticisms that the MPSAs were given without the prior consent of local communities, as mandated by the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 (Republic Act No. 7942).

“That matter should be answered by the [Environmental Management Bureau] because they are the agency in charge of public consultations,” Ancheta said.

Cesar Siador, EMB Cagayan Valley director, said JDVC did not appear on EMB records. —MELVIN GASCON