Diwalwal miners to wait for Aquino's plans

BOTH small-scale and large-scale mining firms at the mineral rich site Diwalwal in Compostela Valley will have to wait for the plans of President-elect Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

The government-owned and controlled Philippine Mining Development Corporation (PMDC) is now on a wait-and-see situation in the case of Diwalwal.

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"We would want to know first what the new president will want to do with Diwalwal," lawyer Vincent Barry Lagura, PMDC manager of the Business Development Group, said during the Club 888 press forum at the Marco Polo Davao.

Protests from small scale miners and tribal groups have started in the gold-rush site due to the looming bidding of the area to a large scale mining firm by the PMDC.

The bidding, according to PMDC, is one way of developing and exploiting the deposits of the area, adding that a partner is necessary as the government-owned mining firm has no capacity to conduct the mining on its own.

However, Lagura said that PMDC will not be submitting any proposal to the president-elect.

"It will be too presumptuous for us to do that. Unless he asks for it, then we will give him," Lagura said. "He might already have plans for Diwalwal."

Moreover, Diwalwal barangay captain Franco Tito accused PMDC of having ignored the small-scale miners and slowly displacing them from their areas.

"We will continue to fight for it. Thousands of people depend on mining for their livelihood," Tito said, adding that he was even bribed with P5 million to "shut up" on the issue.

Moreover, Tito revealed that Muslim groups in the rush site have already sought for the help of Muslim leader Nur Misuari in defending the gold-rush site from being submitted to a large-scale mining firm.

"Misuari has given his support," Tito said.