By ALFREDO P
HERNANDEZ
THE government
has finally stepped in to stop illegal mining operations in the gold districts
of Mambulao, Labo and Paracale.
According to
the latest Facebook posting by CamNorte radio journalist Rommel Ibasco Fenix,
officer in charge regional director of the Mines and Geophysics Bureau Theodore
Rommel E Pestaῆo has
ordered CamNorte Governor Edgardo A Tallado to stop issuing temporary
small-scale mining permits (TSSMP) to small-scale miners in the province.
Hundreds of
these operators are based in the three mining districts.
Pestano said in
his order that small-scale mining operations are considered illegal under
Executive Order No. 79 issued in July 2012 if done outside a declared Minahang
Bayan, or People’s Small Scale Mining
Area.
He said that as
of now, there has been no declared Minahang Bayan in CamNorte, which means all
small – scale operations in the province are deemed illegal.
Pestano
stressed in his directive to Tallado that a number of SSMPs he issued out did
not pass an evaluation process supposed to be carried out by the Provincial
Mining Regulatory Board which the governor appointed sometime ago.
The MGB
director told Tallado to desist from issuing such permits.
Among those who
got TSSMP from the governor were Susana Doctolero, Rolando Betchayda and Liaoning Fenghua Group Philippine Mining
Co, Inc.
As of now,
CamNorte has no legally-constituted mining regulatory board as the one formed
by Tallado has never been confirmed by DENR Secretary Ramon Paje.
The
Tallado-created PMRB has been put to question by the DENR owing to the
questionable manner it was formed.
According to
Fenix, the Tallado PMRB comprised the following: 1) Chairman -- regional
director of MGB Region 5; 2) vice –chairman – CamNorte governor who is
representedby Leopoldo Badiola; 3) Vilma B Cayabyab, who represents the
Uni-Dragon Mining andDevelopment Corporation; 4) Wilfredo A Endionela, a
representative from the non-governmental
organizations (NGO); and 5) Nonie Besa – a representative from the small-scale
mining sector.
Fenix, in
earlier commentaries in his radio program, had alleged that Badiola, Cayabyab
and Besa are Tallado cronies.
According to
Fenix, Besa has obtained a permit to operate at Baranggay Napaod in Labo town.
Residents in
this baranggay have claimed that Besa’s reckless gold mining operations
destroyed their environment.
On the other
hand, Ronaldo C Vargas, who is Tallado’s mining business liaison officer, was
found to have signed an export declaration papers for Liaoning Fenghua Group
for 10,000 metric tons of iron ore/iron sand.
The said
documents were filed with the Department of Trade and Industry regional office
in Legazpi.
The iron ore
was allegedly mined in Larap by Malaysian-owned Investwell Resources Inc.
Last December
6, the iron ore was loaded onto m/v Chang Min, which has remained docked at the
private pier of Pan Century Surfactant at baranggay Osmena in Mambulao.
Fenix said
Investwell’s ore transport permit and mineral ore export permit, which were
issued by Tallado, had not been validated and confirmed by DENR-MGB, a
violation of DENR memorandum order No 2010-07.
It has been
alleged that the Malaysian-owned miner had earlier shipped out to China about
200,000 metric tons of iron ore.
Investwell
Resources, one of the biggest miners in CamNorte, got TSSMP and ore transport
permit (OTP) and mineral ore export permit (MOEP) from Tallado.
Recently, MGB
said Investwell has no valid permit to extract iron ore in Larap because it has
never complied with DENR requirements.
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