‘Treasure hunting’ in NV protected area stopped

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has ordered a private exploration company to stop further alleged treasure hunting inside a declared protected area in neighboring Bambang town.

Forester Roberto Apigo, provincial environment and natural resources officer, said his office has issued an ultimatum to Phil-Water Exploration and Development Corp. to pull out its exploration equipment from the protected area in Barangay Salinas, Bambang and fill up the excavations it has made there.

Apigo warned Phil-Water that its equipment will be confiscated in favor of the government and that it faces appropriate charges if it fails to vacate the area within three days.

The order, which took effect last Thursday, was issued after alleged "clandestine" exploration activities were discovered the other week inside the 6,675-hectare protected area in Barangay Salinas which was once famous for its "Salinas Salt Spring," a major tourist attraction.

The company, the DENR said, allegedly violated Presidential Decree 1586, which outlines the implementing rules for the so-called environment impact statement; Republic Act 7586 or the National Protected Areas Integrated System Act, and laws governing the issuance of permits for treasure hunting.

Earlier, William Calderon, community environment and natural resources officer (CENRO) in the area, had given his nod to the diggings "provided that extra mitigating measures will be done and monitored by the DENR."

Calderon has been recalled as the OIC-CENRO and was given a new assignment in the DENR provincial office here.

Apigo, however, said Calderon’s "recall" had nothing to do with his issuance of a letter paving the way for Phil-Water to explore for gold and diamond in the protected area.

Forester Silvestre Orden, the DENR’s protected area superintendent here, said the diggings in Barangay Salinas could create "ecological disturbances," endangering the watershed there and totally destroying the now waterless salt spring.

The Salinas Salt Spring, once this province’s major tourist destination, has stopped spewing salt water after a cavern collapsed during the 1990 earthquake.

During the spring’s heyday, its deposits resulted in crystal-like formations going down the hills.

For years, the provincial government and non-government organizations have tried to restore the Salinas Salt Spring which, however, had already been on the brink of destruction even before the 1990 earthquake due to rampant cutting of trees in the area.

Orden said his office, which has jurisdiction over the management of the protected area, did not issue any clearance for the diggings.

Former board member Efren Quiben, a member of the local Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), condemned the diggings, saying the board was not aware of nor consented to the excavations in Barangay Salinas.