Small-scale gold mining fetches a million peso a day in Bukidnon hinterland
The mining activity has changed the economic landscape in the area as residents abandoned their farms in favor of panning as their main source of livelihood, the report said.
But the multi-million peso operation violates Republic Act 7076 or the People’s Small Scale Mining Act of 1991. The report noted that the operations pose serious environmental and health risks as miners use motorized water pump to separate the precious material from the deposit. Human waste, too, is thrown into the river, according to a source quoted in the BENRO report.
The problem reached the Bukidnon Sangguniang Panlalawigan earlier this month and Vice Governor Jose Ma. R. Zubiri Jr. ordered an investigation in aid of legislation.
Dao barangay captain Jimmy Ligoyon said in the hearing that the miners are mostly from the indigenous peoples (Matigasalug and Tiguahanons) in the area but there are also those who come from outside town, including non-IP miners.
Ligoyon said Dao has local gold buyers. But an armed group under a certain Carillo Salusad or “Kumander Salusad” was reported to have allegedly brokered and earned from the transactions.
Ligoyon denied the panning activities use mercury.
But a San Fernando councilor Tabuclaon told this reporter that the mining activities are already causing peace and order problems. He said cases of killings and robbery increased in the area. e.
He added that back in 2006, the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau did a survey of the area upon request, and the survey showed it is positive of gold. The local government asked the MGB to declare it as a “Minahan ng Bayan” but no declaration has been made.
He cited as one of the reasons the absence of a local people’s organization which is a requirement of the law.
If legalized, the area will become the province’s first “Minahan ng Bayan” after a site in Libona became problematic over an earlier issued tenurial instrument, said Wilfredo Tagadiad, a BENRO officer assigned to small scale mining.
A BENRO team was scheduled to visit the area to investigate the alleged illegal mining activities in Dao on June 10.
But Tagadiad, who headed the team said local officials from the town warned them that going by themselves was “too risky” because of the armed groups and the recent slaying of a barangay official in the barangay next to Dao.
He told this reporter they did not proceed but instead interviewed sources from the area who were in Halapitan, the town center.
In the hearing at the provincial board earlier this month, some members feared that the situation in Dao, San Fernando, Bukidnon would become the next Diwalwal, a gold rush site in Mt. Diwata, Monkayo, Compostela Valley, whose population reached around 80,000 in the early 1980s.
The report also said that in March, this year, Dao councilor Bacleran said the mining activities had been going on for some time but peaked in November 2010 because of the entry of many miners. He said miners use flasher or screen although he cited that there are three tunnels that have been dug to recover gold.
In February this year, the municipal government ordered a stoppage of the mining operations but miners did not budge, Bacleran was quoted as saying in the minutes of a strategic planning session organized by CENRO Felix Obsioma on March 25.
Tagadiad recommended in his report to declare the area as a “minahan ng Bayan” if qualified, so the government can regulate it.
The San Fernando municipal council and the DENR called on the tribal council and barangay council officials in the area for a consultation on the issue.
The provincial board, according to board member Nemesio Beltran Jr, is awaiting the BENRO report on the investigation. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)
