Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) visited Barangay Kias in Baguio City on Valentine’s Day for the formal launch of the agency’s National Task Force on Mining Challenge – a project Environment Chief Roy A. Cimatu initiated to ensure mining laws are properly executed.
The task force, Cimatu said, was an idea he came up with after a recent visit at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), his alma mater.
Earlier, the Environment Department ordered the closure of 18 mine tunnels found nearby, which intruded and caused some areas to collapse within the institution, Cimatu said.
Cimatu introduced his newly formed team of 100 members via a blasting of said mine tunnels at the border of the PMA and an ancestral claim.
“I was at the grandstand when I noticed that the left side of Borromeo Field eroded. I asked if it was erosion and they said it was the result of mine tunneling. These are operations of miners violating the mining and environmental laws,” he said.
Kias, according to DENR’s findings, has a prevalent case of illegal mining that led further to its environmental degradation.
Miners operating in the area were also found to had been using sodium cyanide, a highly toxic compound applied mainly in gold mining.
“One miner almost died there last month. This could have been prevented if they are regulated,” Cimatu said.
The task force will soon begin looking into other mining operations in Benguet, Abra, Mountain Province, and Kalinga in the Cordillera region, as well as in the Cagayan Valley mines in Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and Quirino.
Source: Rappler
Photo courtesy of Malacañang
