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Wednesday, February 16, 2005
River dev't body, mines agency execs try to patch up
OFFICIALS of the Cagayan de Oro River Development Authority (Corda) and the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) try to settle a recent verbal exchange with a meeting scheduled sometime Wednesday.
The meeting followed days of buck-passing among the officials for the recent landslide in Barangay Pigsag-an that claimed the lives of one barangay official, his wife and two ronda tanods.
The meeting would discuss among other things the enactment of an ordinance imposing stricter prohibitions on mining. Both officials of the City Council and the City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) held the MGB 10 accountable for the illegal mining problem in the city, a charge the agency denies.
The MGB reiterated that mining laws have been devolved to the local government units (LGUs).
Despite this MGB Supervising Science Research Specialist Liza Manzano said confronting the problem of illegal mining in the city would mean using a proactive approach.
"If we are to stop illegal mining, then it should be a multi-sectoral effort," Manzano adding that the agencies concerned should have a concerted effort instead of laying the blame on each other.
She said their agency would expect to formulate solutions for tomorrow's meeting.
Earlier Corda chairman Engineer Emmanuel Abejuela said a multi-sectoral task force would be created to address the mining problems in the city.
He said this task force will provide alternative livelihood programs to Pigsag-an residents.
Still Abejuela couldn't resist criticizing the MGB-10 for its alleged neglect on the problem.
"So we have created this task force to address the problem, kay dili man molihok ning uban nga government agencies. Kini sila mga tapulan (because the other government agencies won't participate, they're lazy)," Abejuela said.
He also criticized the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for not implementing the Small Mining Program meant to benefit the small miners.
The Clenro head however admitted there should be coordination among the government agencies to solve the illegal mining problem. (Danilo V. Adorador III)
(February 16, 2005 issue)
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