ITOGON, Benguet – The municipal government continuous to be saddened on the alleged failure of the present leadership of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to lift the temporary ban on small-scale mining operations in the Cordillera to allow the industry to bounce back from the slump caused by the stoppage order that is aggravated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Bernard S. Waclin claimed that the municipal council and the provincial board already passed resolutions requesting the government to already lift the 5-year ban on the conduct of pocket mining operations in the region so that tens of thousands of small-scale miners can regain their livelihoods.
He pointed out that the pocket miners have already learned their lessons from past incidents that caused the government to implement the ongoing ban on pocket mining operations and it the concerned government agencies must review the enforcement of the conditions leading to the ban and the current situation of the pocket miners towards lifting the said ban to allow the miners to get back their major source of livelihood.
Small-scale mining is one of the major sources of livelihood of many residents in the municipality over the past several decades until this was ordered stopped over 4 years ago right after the tragic landslide incident at Level 070 Ucab that claimed the lives of hundreds of individuals.
According to him, the requirements of the Minahang Bayan for small-scale miners to legitimate their operations are very stringent that is why many associations wanting to apply for this are having a difficult time complying with the documents being required from them by the regulating agencies.
He pointed out that concerned government agencies must look into the possibility of amending the guidelines of the operation of Minahang Bayan so that the requirements will be eased for applicants to be able to satisfy and eventually given the permit to operate.
Mayor Waclin reminded the different groups of small-scale miners existing in the municipality to keep their fingers crossed and await the decision of the regulating agencies on the fate of pocket mining in the region considering that it has been suspended over the past 4 years that deprived them of their income.
He expressed hope that with the repeated appeal from the concerned sectors and the local governments for the lifting of the ban on small-scale mining, the government will heed such appeal and come up with a possible ‘win-win’ scenario that will allow the resumption of small-scale mining activities governed by regulations that can issued for such propose to prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents that will compromise the overall safety of the pocket miners and the communities where they operate.
Itogon is one of the first-class municipalities in the province that relies on mining as one of the major sources of its internally-generated resources and is home to various large-scale mining companies that have existed for decades now.
