Monday, August 14, 2006
Mines bureau draws flak
RESIDENTS affected by a big mining venture in Mindanao recently chided the regional Mines and Geosciences Bureau office in General Santos City for causing them "sleepless night and undue panic" after the agency flip-flopped from its earlier warning.
In February this year, Jose Madrona, then the bureau's regional director, issued a report on evaluating the presence of fissures and crack in the soil in Tablu, Tampakan in South Cotabato."
"The soonest the residents within the affected area and the houses below the creeping mass consider transferring to safer place now, the better it would be for their safety," Madrona said in a letter addressed to village chieftain Perlita Suase.
Madrona, now retired from service, said the fissures or earth cracks and tilted posts of houses at lower Tablu are manifestations of remobilization of then unstable ground as reported in early 1984.
He noted that any tremor by tectonic earthquake could weaken the otherwise fragile ground condition, resulting therefore to hasten and sudden mass movement of the same.
In May this year, Jaime Flores, the regional bureau's geosciences division chief, identified Tablu as prone to landslide with the occurrence of heavy rains during a public forum on "Information and Education Campaign on Potential Geohazard in South Cotabato."
But last week, in a public dialogue with Tablu residents, Flores said the village is "no problem" from landslides.
"That February report was hastily done and has no logic. I refute that statement done hastily. I will conduct a deeper study of the area. I will put to stake my license here," said Flores in convincing residents not to relocate from the village.
"Barangay Tablu is not located in a critical slope or structure although there are signs of cracks caused by soil movement due to rainfall," he stressed.
Last week, fissures are still present inside several houses in the village. In some farms, the lands are submerged waist deep, according to residents.
The village forms part of the minerals development site of Sagittarius Mines, Inc, which is eyeing copper and gold deposits in the towns of Tampakan in South Cotabato, Columbio in Sultan Kudarat and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur.
Flores, however, said drilling activities of Sagittarius are "not the reason for the land cracks since the firm follows rigorous safety standards."
He added that the soil movement in the village "is caused by natural phenomenon and probably by bad farming method as kaingin or slash-and-burn tree farming."
Nelson Guintibano, however, expressed disbelief now that their village has been cleared as safe from landslides, referring to the land cracks at more than a dozen houses and the submerging of a portion of a farmland in the area.
"It's a matter of life and death and it seems we are being fooled. Government agencies should observe utmost care in issuing warnings that would later on turn out to be false. It caused us undue mental worry," he said. (RBS)
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(August 7, 2006 issue)
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