Transfer of gold processing plants from Barangay Mt. Diwata or more popularly known as Diwalwal to Barangay Mabatas in Monkayo, Compostela Valley started last Saturday in order to give way to the rehabilitation of Naboc River from contamination.
The said transfer of 1,797 ball mill and batch-type Carbon-in-Pulp (CIP) tank operators in Diwalwal followed the three-day “Lihoc Alang sa Naboc” program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which implemented a closure order to the gold processing plants in the area.
The operators were given until March 15 to disassemble and transfer their plants in the Mine Processing Zone in Mabatas. Failure to comply means a P 200,000 penalty per day of operations.
“Our objective here is to transfer the source of the pollutants and confine within the tailings pond area,” DENR-11 Regional Executive Director Ruth Tawantawan said in an article by the Philippine News Agency.
Tawantawan also said that these gold processing plants was able to operate with no permits and no taxes for 33 years which makes DENR’s move fair as enough time was already given to the operators.
Moving gold processing plants in Mabatas is important now more than ever as the government needs to rehabilitate the Naboc River which is facing toxic contamination.
It was revealed in a study conducted by the DENR-Environmental Management Board (EMB), the Mines and Geoscience Bureau (MGB), the United Nations Industrial and Development Organization (UNIDO), and other organizations, that high concentration of mercury as well as incidents of soil erosion and siltation is evident in the said river.
This is despite the DENR, the National Task Force Diwalwal, and local government units exerting efforts to avoid the Naboc River form being completely contaminated by mercury and cyanide from mining operations.
As first phase of the river’s rehabilitation, aside from the transfer of gold processing plants, relocation of informal settlers was also given priority. Especially after MGB discovered tension cracks in residential areas.
Over a hundred households in the villages of Purok 15, 16, and 17 in Mt. Diwata were made vulnerable to landslide by said tension cracks measuring about six meters.
Meanwhile, a monitoring team will also be stationed in Mt. Diwata to ensure no gold processing operations will take place in the barangay.
