The Cordillera office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB-CAR) urged the public to be vigilant on the large-scale and small-scale mining activities that are being conducted in their respective communities as part of being responsible citizens who care for the preservation and protection of the environment.
MGB-CAR regional director Engr. Fay W. Apil pointed out that if people really care for the preservation and protection of the environment, they must be vigilant on all activities that are detrimental to the state of the environment and immediately report the matter to the concerned government agencies and the host and neighboring communities for appropriate investigation and action.
In the case of the activities of large-scale mining companies that pose a threat to the environment, she claimed that such issues and concerns must first be referred to the multipartite monitoring team (MMT) composed of representatives from the community, barangay and other stakeholders which is in charge of looking into such questionable activities and making the necessary recommendations for the same to be given immediate attention and appropriately addressed.
The MGB-CAR official said that in most cases, such issues and concerns being raised against the operation of large-scale mining activities are immediately addressed in the said level and the matter is no longer elevated to high authorities like the MGB and the local governments.
Director Apil revealed that it is unfortunate that it is always the large-scale mining operations that are having issues in the conduct of their activities when there are already established mechanisms within their systems that are in place to address such issues and concerns being raised against their respective operations.
Further, she explained that whatever activities of large-scale mining companies should pass through a series of consultations with their host and neighboring communities and if the same will approve the proposed activities, then the role of the MGB is to monitor the compliance of the companies to the conditions that have been imposed for such activities.
According to her, there are people who are always not contented with the way things are handled in the hierarchy of the system that is why they always file their complaints with the MGB which are given appropriate attention and most of the time, it is proven that the raised issues and concerns had already been acted upon by the company being complained of by the affected residents.
She underscored that there are various factors affecting the living condition of people in mining communities but such problems should not always be blamed on large-scale mining operations within their communities because there are other factors that must be considered before coming out with conclusions.
She rallied concerned sectors to make use of the existing mechanisms that had been put in place for their grievances to be given appropriate attention to avoid unnecessary friction between contending parties coming from the host and neighboring communities.
Apil admitted that the existence of MMTs in areas where large-scale mining operations are being done is a great hep in ensuring that their activities adhere to the standards of responsible mining which are always geared towards the upliftment of the welfare of the host and neighboring communities, the preservation and protection of the environment within their mine sites and the practice of corporate social responsibility in the said areas.
