It’s a big issue that needs a closer look — but we’re all for protecting the environment more than anything else.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Gina Lopez has vowed not to grant new mining permits or renew existing ones in Sarangani. She also vowed that even explorations will not be allowed in the province under her term.
“Earlier, the DENR office in Central Mindanao said it granted the 88 Kiamba Mining and Development Corp. a permit to explore copper, gold, and silver deposits in Sarangani and in nearby South Cotabato,” reports Allan Nawal in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The report noted: “The mining company was headed by Mohamad Aquia former head of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group in Mindanao and was said to be a close ally of now Senator Manny Pacquiao.
Constancio Paye Jr. — the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Central Mindanao director — confirmed that “the exploration permit was the first to be issued in the region since former President Aquino issued a national mining policy as embodied in Executive Order 79.”
The MGB, as the report indicated, “is pushing for the declaration of some parts of Kiamba and Maitum towns as mineral reservation projects after it has identified 11,164 hectares as strategic mineral reserve areas.” The bureau thinks the proposal could solve the problem of illegal small scale mining activities in Kiamba and Maitum areas. However, the proposal was opposed by Socksargend Care, a local anti-mining group based in Sarangani.
Rene Pamplona, coordinator of Socksargend Care, said, “The project will result in the destruction of the forest and agricultural lands which, in turn, will affect thousands of families who rely on the agricultural production of the area.”
For her part, Lopez spoke to Sarangani Gov. Steve Solon last Fri, Jul 15, and told him she was not bound to approve mining activities in the province. “Rest assured, there will be no mining applications or explorations that will be renewed in Sarangani,” she said.
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