MANKAYAN, Benguet- Small-scale miners led other sectors from both the government and private in the practice of the ‘bayanihan spirit’ in the municipality, especially in the clearing of landslides and other damages inflicted by Typhoon Ulysses to public and private properties in the various barangays.
The small-scale mining groups that took the said initiative included the Suoc-neg Indigenous Livelihood Association (STILA) headed by Manaseh Giles and other organization s for the mining areas that paved the way for the immediate clearing of the debris that covered various national, municipal and barangay roads.
The organizations also allowed their backhoe to be used in the road clearing activities that were done in the areas where there were reported landslides that ensured the immediate opening of the roads to vehicular traffic right after the wrath of the weather disturbance.
Further, the small-scale miners also assisted linemen and jobbers of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) in the putting of their fallen poles and lines that paved the way for the immediate restoration of power in the affected areas that suffered outages the height of the onslaught of the typhoon.
Mayor Frenzel A. Ayong lauded the pocket miners for voluntarily rendering their services and the use of their units of equipment to help in the road clearing activities had the restoration of power to the communities right after the typhoon that visited the different parts of the country.
“We are grateful to our small-scale miners who volunteered their services to help in our road clearing and power restoration activities right after the typhoon. We are humbled by their commitment to be available to extend the needed assistance to the community in times of need that is why their humanitarian actions are highly commendable and worthy of emulation by other sectors of our community,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
According to him, even in previous months when the municipal government and the private sector needed assistance, the different groups of pocket miners were always ready to lend a helping and that allowed previous issues and concerns to be immediately resolved at the local level.
The local chief executive urged the pocket miners to sustain their commitment to public services because they had been playing a significant role in empowering other civic organizations in the municipality to be proactive so that problems that will transpire could be immediately addressed without seeking the intervention of outside forces.
Ayong pointed out that words re not enough to express the sincerest gratitude of the officialdom of the municipal government to the small-scale mining associations for their commitment to help communities in times of need for people to be able to recover from whatever difficult situation that will transpire.
Mankayan is both a mining and agriculture town where its lower barangays are said to be mining areas while its upper barangays re the agriculture areas that produce huge volume of vegetables that are being sold in the different markets inside and outside the province. By HENT
