Diwalwal tunnel closed

DAVAO CITY — A combined police-military team shut down last Wednesday afternoon a tunnel on Mt. Diwalwal in Monkayo, Compostela Valley which caved in last Oct. 26, claiming the lives of 32 miners.

Lt. Hernando Caraig Jr., commander of the Army’s 25th Infantry Battalion, told The STAR that they carried out an order of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau closing down the Sunshine portal of JB Management Corp.

"There was an initial report of some resistance on the part of the workers but it was resolved after we held a dialogue with the management of the mining firm," Caraig said.

The closure order resulted from the finding of a multi-agency task force that the tunnel collapsed due to an explosion.

Reynaldo Española, vice president of JB Management Corp., said the tunnel’s closure would affect at least 600 workers and 8,000 others whom the company indirectly employs as well as their families and dependents.

The closure would also result in a loss of more than P500,000 daily to the mining firm and the economic displacement of thousands of miners, he added.

Caraig said the Sunshine portal would remain closed despite the JB Management’s request that it be allowed to clear the tunnel of boulders.

"We can only allow any clearing operation of the remaining debris inside the tunnel that caved in or even the retrieval of the remains of the five other victims if we will be ordered by the concerned officials," Caraig said.

"But since there has been none so far, the tunnel would remain closed," he added.