|
Sunday, February 06, 2005
City gets flak for mining disaster
* Green group says deaths of miners 'were preventable'
AN ENVIRONMENTAL group blamed the City Government Friday for its alleged negligence in dealing with illegal mining activities in the city, which led to the deaths of four persons in Barangay Pigsag-an.
This came even as the chairperson of the City Council's environment committee said a task force had already been planned to go after illegal miners.
In an interview Task Force Macajalar (TFM) spokesperson Bencyrus Ellorin also scored the regional office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 10 for its supposed "cowardice" in addressing the problem.
"It was a disaster that was a preventable one. The government should have exercised due diligence as a good father of the family," he said.
Ellorin said while they don't lay the blame on the City Government it was clear they should have resolved the problem from the start. "Kabalo nagud sila nga naay illegal mining didto (They know there is illegal mining there)...it was a disaster waiting to happen," he said.
Meanwhile Councilor and Environment committee chairman Caesar Ian Acenas said while they condole with the families of barangay chairman Bernie Misca and the two tanods they have not been neglectful of their duties.
Acenas said Councilor Alexander Dacer made a special report on the illegal mining activities in Barangay Pigsag-an, Tuburan and the part of Barangay Tumpagon affecting the Iponan River.
"Ako taga-Iponan man gyud ko gadako diha kami gakaligo sa Iponan River (I am from Iponan I take a bath there in the Iponan River)," he said.
Win-win solutions
Acenas said his committee called up the barangay officials including Misca to discuss this problem and he clarified if there is illegal mining in their areas. He said all admitted that there is illegal mining in their communities.
"Ako pa gani tong gi-agi ug binuang nga basin naay mga barangay officials nga ga-flashing (illegal mining) pud ug nangatawa lang sila wala motubag (I even joked that there may be barangay officials who are into illegal mining and they laughed but didn't answer)," Acenas said.
He said he didn't know that Misca was involved and the committee members asked them to stop these activities and seek other livelihood.
Acenas said they cannot force the affected residents to stop from engaging in illegal mining because they know it's hard for them to seek alternative means of livelihood.
He said they held other meetings to map out win-win solutions to this dilemma.
Acenas said prior to being committee chairman of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro), MGB and the Department of Agriculture (DA) banded together to cut the hoses of the "flashing machines" used by the illegal miners.
Acenas said a meeting of the Cagayan de Oro River Development Authority (Corda) held for two days before Misca's death took up the issue of illegal mining.
Reactive
He said they agreed to pass an ordinance prohibiting the operation of hydraulic mining in Cagayan de Oro and the creation of a task force to go after illegal miners.
However he said they are studying the measure so as not to violate the Supreme Court decision on the Mining Act.
"Mao nga pagpahibalo sa ako nga namatay si Capt. Misca ug iyang asawa ug duwa ka tanod kay tungod aning illegal mining nanglimbarot akong balahibo (That's why when I learned that Capt. Misca died along with his wife and two tanods due to illegal mining I got goosebumps)," he said.
However Ellorin said there was a meeting held by Environment Secretary Mike Defensor with local officials, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office, non-government organizations (NGOs) and media to discuss this problem.
He said despite this the local officials failed to do anything about it and added that the City Government cannot blame the NGOs nor media since they had been reminded of the problem.
Ellorin said it was understood that the NGOs and media are ready to help but they need to have law enforcers on their side to be led by the local government unit (LGU) and the EMB.
However the TFM spokesman said there was no immediate response and they were advised by EMB Director Dario Miñoza to discuss this issue with Mayor Vicente Emano.
"But why do we need to hold meetings when it is clear that there is illegal mining..Wara man ug klaro na kaayo nga nadungaban ang tao pero dili sa nato siya i-adto sa hospital kay magsulat sa kita sa (It's like when we clearly see that a person was stabbed but we don't bring him to the hospital since we have to write the hospital)," he said.
Ellorin said illegal mining not only destroys the environment but also endangers the lives of miners and the community.
In response Acenas said he expects this response from TFM.
"Sayop diretso sila react... una sila mag-react ug in ana ila sa utang sutaon kung unsay gibuhat diha nato (There's a mistake and they react...they would first react and they would pick on us to see what we did)..but we have local people and the Cenro," he said.(LJA and SC)
(February 5, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
|
