Mine safety group aids Pantukan rescue work, seeks better laws

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association (PMSEA) has activated its Safety Networking Action Program (SNAP) to rescue victims and retrieval bodies after receiving reports on the landslide in Pantukan, Compostela Valley, from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

PMSEA president Louie Sarmiento also renewed PMSEA’s call for a review to refine the laws pertaining to small-scale mining to eliminate illegal activities under strict regulation and guidance. This would provide more opportunities for legal operators to maximize their output and income, Sarmiento said.

There are no PMSEA member companies operating in the area, according to Sarmiento, but the PMSEA member-company, Apex Mining Company, Inc. assembled a team that was deployed to Pantukan.

Other teams from PMSEA member-companies have also been deployed to Pantukan, through the assistance of MGB Region 11 Director Edilberto Arreza and in coordination with the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council, including Philex Mining Corporation, St. Agustine, and Nadecor.

PMSEA said miners serving in the group’s so-called Pusong Minero rescue teams from member companies were considered experts in calamity and disaster rescue. They were able to save many lives, including that of Sonia Roco (wife of the late Senator Raul Roco), during the 1990 killer earthquake in Baguio City and four trapped individuals from the collapsed Repador Building in Real, Quezon in 2004 after a series of typhoons and landslides hit the area. The miners were likewise involved in the rescue and recovery efforts during the Leyte landslides in December 2003 and February 2006, among others.

The mining safety advocacy group is also presently aiding the survivors of storm Sendong.

PMSEA is an organization of mining companies, quarries, cement plants, suppliers, service contractors, professional organizations and government agencies that promotes occupational safety, improved health standards and environmental protection in mining-related operations.

On early Thursday, at least 25 people were killed while about 100 were left missing when a landslide hit a mining area in Pantukan, Compostela Valley, authorities said.

The landslide-hit area of Sitio Diat 1 is near another mining area where a similar incident left several people dead recently, according to Lt. Colonel Lyndon Paniza, spokesman of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division.

In April 2011, an early morning landslide collapsed small-scale mine tunnels in Pantukan.