NAGA CITY: With the belief that illegal mining activities have spread unabated because of lack of livelihood opportunities in Camarines Norte town, the municipal council of Paracale approved a resolution that asked a mining firm to re-open its operation in their town after it stopped its operation in 1999.
Paracale Councilor Errol A Valeros, author of the resolution, said
through the phone that the closure of United Paragon Mining Corp (UPMC) has
triggered the proliferation of small-scale mining because these were the same
families depending on its operation and had grown since then, after its closure
in 1999.
But then the late Interior and Local Government Sec. Jesse M. Robredo,
upon the request of the Director of Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), ordered
on Feb 1, 2012 the Philippine National Police to stop all illegal mining
activities in the provinces of Eastern Samar, Camarines Sur, and Camarines
Norte “because of the incidents relative to small scale mining that happened in
these provinces.”
Valeros revealed that small-scale mining activities are scattered all
over Paracale, and “almost all barangays have their own way.”
He said the order has deprived small-scale miners of their livelihood
and that there is no alternative employment for them but in mining.
Valeros said the local officials of Paracale must intervene immediately
because many families are now suffering from having no source of livelihood and
a bigger social problem may erupt.
He said former company workers displaced were forced to engage in
small-scale mining if only to survive because of the absence of alternative
livelihood.
The resolution declared that reopening UPMC “will generate employment”
and that “the small scale miners will be benefited aside from the development
that it will bring to the community and the taxes that it will pay to the
government.”
Valeros said the UPMC, DILG, and MGB were furnished copies of the
resolution they passed on July 6, 2012 for information and appropriate action.
– Bicol Mail
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