DENR asked to help small miners

An environmentalist nongovernment organization called on Environment Secretary Regina Lopez to stop the crackdown on small-scale mining, saying this was sending at least 500,000 poor miners into worse conditions.

“Artisanal and small-scale mining is a neglected sector largely ignored and unrecognized by the government,” BAN Toxics program manager Evelyn Cubelo said in a statement.

BAN Toxics works with small-scale gold miners throughout the country to eliminate the use of mercury and provide interventions that promote “sustainability, community empowerment and responsible small-scale mining practices.”

“The government’s failure to recognize the sector has left communities mired in a cycle of poverty, without support from the government,” Cubelo said.

Data from BAN Toxics show that a small-scale miner earns P162 a day after “scratching the earth for a living [in a manner] akin to digging for yam.”

She said that as early as Jan. 17, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) ordered an immediate stop to all small-scale mining activities in the Camarines Norte towns of Jose Panganiban, Paracale and Labo.

According to BAN Toxcis, small-scale mining is present in at least 40 provinces across the country, providing jobs to some half a million people in far flung areas.

However, the government named only five small-scale mining areas as a Minahang Bayan or a “formalized” or legally recognized operation.

Cubelo said that in Camarines Norte, a province where gold mining has been practiced since the Spanish colonial period, all current applications for declaration as a Minahang Bayan had not been approved despite consistent efforts supported by the local government.

She said that with no livelihood, aside from a history of small-scale mining, people continue to mine despite the lack of permits.

“Ordering the immediate shutdown of small-scale operations without alternative livelihood or a transition period for people already mired in poverty clearly goes against the thrust of the DENR to uphold social justice,” Cubelo said.

“These communities know of no other way to make a living and if the DENR visits these areas, they will see that farming and fishing, or the government-proposed bamboo farming, are not viable options for putting food on the table today,” she added.