TACLOBAN CITY - “We will now take a closer look into this matter and forward our comments before the office of the DENR secretary.”
Thus, said Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Regional Director Loreto Alburo in reaction to the recent petition filed by Msgr. Leonardo Medroso, Bishop of the Borongan Diocese together with 50 other priests in Eastern Samar, who asked Secretary Angelo Reyes of the DENR for the immediate cancellation of the mining permit issued to the Heritage Resources and Mining Corporation (HRMC).
Alburo told reporters that he was a little bit surprised with the content of the said petition that there is “no registered violations” on the part of HRMC mining operations which is engaged in chromite extraction in the historic island of Homonhon, Guiuan, Eastern Samar.
The petition of the priests of the Catholic church in Eastern Samar accused HRMC of having no Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC), one of the primary requirements before a mining firm could conduct mining activities.
However, Alburo explained that based on the records in his office, HRMC has the necessary requirement to operate while being closely monitored by a multi-partite monitoring team, a multi-sectoral body composed of different non-government organizations (NGOs) in Eastern Samar.
“What we can say is that we will submit our comments to the honorable secretary since the HRMC has no record in our office of any violations under the mining law ... while the decision will always come from the DENR secretary whether he will cancel the mining permit or not,” Alburo told Express.
At present, the government on its revitalization program of the mining law, has been experiencing a hard time from the non-acceptance and the strong opposition of Filipinos in the full implementation of the Mining Act.
Alburo admitted that government agencies like DENR lacks budget to shoulder or support a massive information dissemination campaign about mining law, so that people will be fully aware of the benefits and policies of this law.
In fact, he said, the president of the Chamber of Mines, Philip Romualdez, has appealed before the concerned agencies to clarify the side of the mining industry.
“That is what we are looking into. We need a continuing advocacy campaign, but unfortunately we don’t have enough funds for this purpose to explain to the people that responsible mining should be implemented having all high-tech facilities in the mining operation, “ he added.
The cancellation of any mining permit will always go under legal process before a final order, he said.
MGB survey revealed that Eastern Visayas is one of the country’s potential or source of bauxite, nickel and chromite which needs massive mining explorations.
