MGB hails Camarines Norte police for crackdown on illegal mining. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) regional office for Bicol here has commended the Camarines Norte police office for its intensified crackdown on illegal mining in the gold-rich province. MGB Regional Technical Director Theodore Rommel Pestaño on Monday said that reports furnished his office by the Philippine National Police (PNP) regional headquarters at Camp Gen. Simeon Ola here, at least 78 suspected illegal miners have been so far arrested in the province this year. Cases have also been filed against these suspects—all small scale miners, Pestaño said, citing police reports. October 22nd Senior Supt. Moises Pagaduan, the Camarines Norte provincial police director, in his recent report to PNP regional director Chief Supt. Victor Deona said those arrested had been caught doing small-scale mining in the municipalities of Paracale which is known for its rich gold deposits. Police operations that led to the arrests, Pestaño said, were accompanied by MGB anti-illegal mining operatives based in Daet, Camarines Norte’s provincial capital. Since time immemorial, Pestaño said, small miners have been working on these mineral deposits for a hand-to-mount subsistence but since the province has not established a Minahang Bayan, all these workers, under existing laws, operate illegally while braving the penalty of imprisonment from six months to six years as provided under the law. Defined as the people’s small-scale mining areas, Minahang Bayan is a suitable on-shore site identified by a particular local government unit (city or provincial) for small-scale miners organized into a cooperative that could operate under the monitoring of the MGB. It is established as a government-designated and regulated area to bring small-scale miners away from danger zones, concessions already delineated for large-scale operation, and prohibited sites such as government reservations and protected areas and those that are assigned to tourism activities and agrarian reform programs, among others. This means that small-scale miners cannot operate just anywhere, Pestaño explained. It is also a government measure to regulate small-scale mining activities that were blamed for dumping mercury and cyanide to the waterways and the underground. Small-scale mining, as defined under Republic Act 7076 or the People’s Small-Scale Mining Act of 1991, refers to mining activities which rely heavily on manual labor using simple implements and methods and do not use explosives or heavy mining equipment and requires only a small capital investment. Small-scale miners, on the other hand, according to RA 7076, are Filipino citizens who voluntarily form a cooperative duly licensed by the DENR to engage, under the terms and conditions of a contract or license in the extraction or removal of minerals or ore bearing materials from the ground. While it is very clear that only Filipino small-scale miners, organized as a cooperative, can operate in a Minahang Bayan, a limitation however, was set forth by the same law that they can only mine gold, silver, chromites, kaolin, silica, marble, gravel and sand and clay in an identified mineralized area, Pestano said. To establish a Minahang Bayan as an effort to give importance to small-scale mining that is responsible for about 70 percent of the gold mined in the country, Pestaño said, Camarines Norte as well as the other five provinces of Bicol should create and reconstitute their own Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB). Under RA 7076, he said, the PMRB is tasked to implement the policy of the state to promote, develop, protect and rationalize viable small-scale mining activities in order to generate more employment opportunities and provide an equitable sharing of the nation’s wealth and natural resources. This law aims to achieve an orderly, systematic and rational development of the small scale mining, Pestaño said. He said his office has since been coordinating with chief executives of the six Bicol provinces for the creation and reorganization of PMRB, including the establishment of Minahang Bayan in each province to end illegal small-scale mining operations. So far, only the provinces of Masbate and Sorsogon have created their respective PMRBs while Albay, Catanduanes, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur are expected to follow suit, Pestaño said. Having this mining regulatory body activated, the first two provinces, he said, are one step ahead of the other four towards establishing their Minahang Bayan but still, no area has been established nor identified so far for review of the DENR. Pestaño explained that under the new rules, only the PMRB can identify and determine an area within its jurisdiction that is suitable for small-scale mining operations subject to the review of the DENR secretary through the regional executive director which will put it under national government monitoring. (PNA) LAP/FGS/DOC/CBD Posted by pnabicol at Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 08:32:46 +0000