Mayor orders closure of pocket mines

TADIAN, Mt. Province -- Mayor Anthony Wooden Sr. ordered policemen to stop the rampant illegal pocket mining in most areas of the town.

He said that on January, he received several complaints from the residents of Barangays Masla and Lubon, asking him to stop illegal mining activities.

“This illegal mining should stop because some of the terraces are being affected,” he said.

Wooden said the miners have no papers authorizing them to get the minerals from the areas.

“We coordinated with our local police to enforce our wish and monitoring is still ongoing to identify who are these miners,” the local chief executive said.

He urged complainants to pursue the illegal pocket miners through filing of cases in concerned courts. He cited most of the complainants have no plans to legalize their complaints.

He said mining is not prohibited given that the miners should be regulated, they should get the necessary papers before operation. He added monitoring of pocket miners is much easier if they are regulated and were accredited as a group.

“We accept mining application but not large scale mining. Miners should comply with the requirements. We are not saying that we do not allow mining, what we only wanted is for them to be regulated,” he said.

He cited a situation in Barangay Mabalite wherein agriculture is impossible because no plants can thrive on most mountains. He said this is the time they will allow mining for the livelihood of the people because the “dead” mountains have several mineral deposits.

Small-scale mining applicants should start at the barangay level where they intend to mine, he said, adding they will seek barangay endorsement from the council then proceed to the local government unit to get further endorsement from the legislative body.

Afterwards, applicants must submit their application along with the barangay and town endorsements to the provincial board for another endorsement which will be addressed to the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB). The PMRB will decide on whether to accept or reject the application. It also has the authority to issue mining permit to the applicant, he added.