Cops sent to secure new mining site in Compostela Valley

DAVAO CITY— A team of policemen from the Southern Mindanao regional mobile group was sent to Barangay Barile in Maco, Compostela Valley, where thousands of people have flocked to believing that a large deposit of gold ore lies in a newly discovered five-hectare mining site.

Region XI police commander Isidro Lapena said the police team will augment the Philippine Army troops assigned in the area.

Lapena said police and military personnel would help in preventing chaos in Barangay Barile, following the influx of a big number of people who were scrambling for their own space to mine.

The Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PRMB) has addressed the influx of people to Barangay Barile as the mining area is said to be the subject of a legal claim by North Davao Mining Corporation and the Apex Mining Corporation.

The PRMB has also formed a composite team that would inspect and further study the resources in Barangay Barile.

The small scale miners who trooped to Maco were reportedly given by PRMB at least three weeks to settle ‘boundaries’, although these have to remain temporary pending the resolution of the legal case filed by North Davao and Apex.

Observers noted that the recent rush to Maco and the digging of tunnels in Barangay Barile was reminiscent of the early 1980s when small miners trooped to Mt. Diwalwal in Monkayo town to explore the mineral resources in the area, now considered to be the country’s largest gold-producing site.