A PARISH priest in Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur, has raised questions to the local government and other concerned authorities about why the illegal mining in the town’s Licabang village continues despite the issuance of a cease and desist order.
Father Zacarias Alinton, parish priest of San Jose in Dumingag, said he visited Licabang village on February 2 and witnessed mining tunnels and some workers resting in their bunks.
Alinton questioned why there are still people engaged in mining as he learned the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has issued a cease and desist order dated May 4, 2023, stopping the operation of small-scale mining in Licabang village.
Alinton said the Catholic Church is against mining “may it be legal or illegal, seeing its negative effects to the environment and the future generation.”
He said there were also reports that some of the small-scale miners were not paid by their financiers.
Richard Ligan, chief of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) in Zamboanga del Sur, confirmed that the MGB had issued a cease and desist order on May 4, 2023, ordering the stoppage of small-scale mining in Licabang village.
Ligan said the cease and desist order penned by MGB Regional Director Hernani Abdon deputized the local police and municipal mayor to implement the order pursuant to existing laws.
He said the small-scale miners operating in Licabang villages are members of the so-called Licabang Lumad Small-Scale Mining Association (Lilussma).
It is also believed that there are small-scale miners from other places engaged in mining operations in Licabang village.
Personnel of the Environmental Law Enforcement and Protection Service (Eleps) from the central office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recently visited Dumingag town to implement the cease and desist order against the Lilussma.
Ligan said they stopped mining, but weeks after, they resumed mining activities.
He said that members of the Lilussma are at present engaged in guerrilla-type mining operation by discreetly harvesting copper ores in tunnels.
He said the small-scale miners ship out their harvested copper ores concealed in sacks passing through human trails in the mountains as far as the province of Zamboanga del Norte aside from Dumingag in Zamboanga del Sur.
Jeesrel Himang, Zamboanga del Sur provincial information officer, said the small-scale mining in Licabang, Dumingag, is illegal.
“With this recent situation, a special task force will be placed in the area to forcibly close all the tunnels and stop once and for all the mining operation,” he said. (SunStar Zamboanga)