Local officials of Homonhon Island off Guiuan town in Eastern Samar are against the mineral ore export permit issued to Techiron Resources Inc. (TRI).
The issued permit allows the center of Panamanian-registered cargo vessels in the island, as well as load 7,000 metric tons of chromite ore concentrate.
Guiuan Mayor Annaliz Gonzales-Kwan said she already directed Guiuan police, the Army, and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to prevent the said vessels from entering the island, according to a report.
The said vessel has 13 Chinese and four other crew members from Myanmar.
Kwan was informed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-8 (DENR) that the ore transport permit was effective for 30 days.
“We hope that this permit should be suspended because this is in violation of the municipal executive order barring domestic and foreign vessels for entering Guiuan while we are under general community quarantine and we also have a 24-hour curfew,” she appealed.
She also explained that the cargo vessels are not part of the exemption done by President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order.
“This is a critical time–all the people are anxious. Although we don’t have the power to stop the issuance of the permit, they should wait until April 14 or until this crisis is over. The people oppose it because although the vessel came from Davao, we have information that it came from China so we are afraid. I will protect the people of Guiuan at all cost,” the mayor stressed.
Eastern Samar Governor Ben Evardone also issued an executive order stating “all entries of non-residents to the provincial coastlines, regardless of origins, are hereby prohibited” from March 22 until April 12.
For the part of TRI, President Anthony Gil said that exporting was one of the exempted industries provided by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) Resolution No. 14.
He added that they already communicated with the office of the governor to clarify the said EO to align it to national proclamations and advisories.
Gil added that the last port of call of the vessel before it arrived in Davao on March 29 was Kaohsiung, Taiwan and not from China.
“The travel history covers the 14-day quarantine period from a foreign port and the quarantine office issued the International Free Pratique Certificate declaring the crew is in good health,” he explained.
“Rest assured that the company is taking all the necessary precautions and is following the guidelines set by various government agencies to counter the spread of the virus,” he added.
