Displaced pocket miners appealed to lift the stoppage order against mining operation

By Zaldy Comanda

ITOGON, Benguet — Thousands of individuals may experience hunger and poverty following the stoppage order issued against Dontog Manganese Pocket Miners (Domapma) in Sitio Dalicno, Barangay Ampucao, Itogon,Benguet.

Dozens of college students from the said mining community may not be able to enroll due to financial difficulties felt by their parents-a number are pocket miners who were displaced by the closure order.

Phoebe Manuel, representing the youth sector, expressed fear that she and her fellow students in their community may not be able to enroll this school year due to financial problems being felt by her parents brought by the stoppage and since the latter have no other source of livelihood except working in small scale mining.

Last June 20, officials of Benguet Federation of Small Scale Miners, Inc. (BFSSMI), together with more than 50 small scale mining associations have gathered and urged the Mines Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to lift the stoppage order against Domapma mining operations in Sitio Dalicno, Barangay Ampucao here.

They claimed that the area being mined by DOMAPMA is outside the patented claims of Benguet Corporation and they appealing to talk to DOMAPMA and the affected communities to resolve the mining issue.

On June 13, MGB Regional Director Fay Apil, who is also the chairperson of the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) of Benguet, issued a stoppage order against DOMAPMA and it was enforced by the Benguet police force.

‘We are appealing to our local government leaders, government agencies, Indigenous leaders and other stakeholders to find ways and means in finding a concrete solution to this longstanding problem of the small-scale mining sector,” BFSSMI states

‘We are so concerned on the impact of the stoppage of the livelihood of our brethren in Dalicno, taking into consideration that such displacement and injection of small scale miners will result to hunger, poverty, financial difficulties in terms of health and education and other social problems that may arise,’ BFSSMI states.

The BFSSM statement, signed by Norberto Cobaldes, the group, and member of Benguet’s provincial mining regulatory board, representing ssm, was presented and read by Rudyrick Pao-eng,president of Garrison Small Scale Miners Association.

DOMAPMA, led by its president Nicholas Tibangwa, and several pocket miners led by Allan Sabiano, and affected individuals, elders, women, youth sectors, among others were also present, and aired their side.