Reyes: No ‘excessive force’ vs Vizcaya illegal miners

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes has ordered his department’s officials here not to use excessive force or violence against illegal small-scale miners in a hinterland town at the Nueva Vizcaya-Quirino boundary.

This developed as the Australasia-Philippines Mining Inc. (APMI) is set to start next month, after almost a decade of exploration, its multibillion-peso gold-copper mining project in the remote village of Didipio in Kasibu town.

Engineer Jerrysal Mangaoang, Cagayan Valley director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), quoted Reyes as instructing local environment officials to use "friendly persuasion," not "excessive force," in driving illegal miners away from Didipio to pave the way for APMI’s operations.

Mangaoang conveyed Reyes’ directive in last Wednesday’s meeting here of the mining rehabilitation committee. Gov. Luisa Lloren Cuaresma and DENR-Cagayan Valley director Clarence Baguilat attended the meeting.

Reyes, according to Mangaoang, wants no "armed elements" to be deployed in ejecting the illegal miners remaining in the area to avoid any untoward incidents.

Mangaong, who chairs the anti-small-scale illegal mining task force here, said only 60 of more than 300 small-scale miners are still in the area.

Reyes’ order was apparently intended to avoid a repeat of what happened in the gold-rush site on Mt. Diwalwal in Compostela Valley where illegal miners fought it out with a DENR-led demolition team.

Last month, Reyes ordered his men to stop illegal mining in Didipio after tests by the Nueva Vizcaya State University showed above-normal mercury content in the blood samples of residents around the mining site as well as in water samples from rivers in the area.

The study blamed the use of mercury by the illegal miners for the contamination.

Earlier, Mangaoang sought the immediate dismantling of all illegal mining structures in Didipio "to prevent the loss of lives and contamination of rivers with deadly chemicals such as mercury."

He said small-scale mining is not suited to Didipio, whose rich mineral deposits could only be extracted through a large-scale mining operation without the use of deadly substances or chemicals and explosives.

The local Catholic Church has led the campaign against the impending gold-copper mining project of APMI, whose parent firm is Australian Mining Company-Climax Mining Ltd.

Reyes is scheduled to visit Didipio, some 60 kilometers away from this capital town, on Aug. 17.

The national government is expected to generate at least P30 billion from the 15-year mining project, aside from the million of pesos in taxes for the host local governments and the hundreds of jobs for the local folk.