BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-CAR) revealed that there are two mineral lands in the city which are not actually being utilized for its prescribed purpose aside from its townsite reservation.
Helma Aboy, DENR-CAR land registration officer, said that while it is true that the general classification of lands in the city is townsite or for housing purposes, there are two areas in the city which were previously declared as mineral lands but the same have not been actually used for its purpose.
She revealed that Proclamation 414 declared a portion of the Loakan area up to its boundary with Happy Hallow as mineral land while the other mineral land is located within the Mines view area which was enshrined in Proclamation No. 572.
Aboy was one of the resource persons of the city council during the deliberation of the proposed environmental code in order to ascertain whether or not to include total ban on mining and quarrying.
However, it was learned that the mineral lands identified by the government in the city have not yet been actually utilized for their prescribed purpose but it has been slowly inhabited forcing some city officials to work for the segregation of the occupied areas for housing purposes so that the same could be awarded to the actual and qualified occupants.
According to her, the city government could make the necessary request to the concerned government agencies for the re-classification of the mineral lands in order to serve their actual use if the city will eventually end up adopting a total ban on large-scale or small-scale mining under the city’s proposed environment code.
Councilor Michael L. Lawana said there is a need to consider the existence of the City Mining Regulatory Board (CMRB) which is empowered by law to pass upon applications for large or small-scale mining operations within the existing mineral lands in the city, thus, the proposed policy on the total ban of mining should be seriously considered.
Several small-scale mining associations are doing pocket mining activities within the boundary of Baguio City and nearby Tuba, Benguet and within portions of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) but such activities have not yet been regulated by the local government and the concerned government agencies.
Aboy said the conversion of the mineral lands to housing or other purposes depends on the priorities of the city government once the environment code shall have been approved and implemented containing provisions on the total ban on quarrying and mining which are environmentally critical projects that would pose a serious threat to the status of the city’s environment in the future.
By Dexter A. See
