By Jonathan L. Mayuga
The government is not keen on approving any application for Minahang Bayan, the centralized program for processing of minerals within a specific area—where the government can better monitor gold production—this year, as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) steps up the campaign against irresponsible mining operations.
An environmental advocate, Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez said in a text message that if she would have it her way, she would rather see small-scale miners having alternative sources of income and livelihood to protect and conserve the environment, and promote sustainable development based on ecologically sound economic activities—such as agri-forestry and ecotourism.
Small-scale miners, particularly in Mindanao, are appealing to Lopez to help boost the sector and to legalize small-scale mining, starting with the establishment of Minahang Bayan, where they can extract and process gold.
Bert Buniales, president of the Philippine National Coalition for Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (PNCASM), said Lopez’s proposal to tap small-scale miners as the DENR’s National Greening Program partners would be a big boost to the livelihood of artisanal and small-scale miners. However, the group is not keen on veering away from small-scale mining.
Buniales, founder of the Mindanao Federation of Small-scale Miners, said, in fact, artisanal and small-scale miners want to seek an audience with the DENR chief to personally appeal for her help.
Established only last year, the PNCASM had asked President Duterte and Lopez in July 2016 to hear out the concerns of the artisanal and small-scale mining sector.
The group assists the sector that has been gripped by pressing issues, including poverty and human rights, and wants the Duterte administration to address its demand to legalize artisanal and small-scale mining, promote occupational health and minimize environmental impact.
Buniales maintained that the 15 artisanal and small-scale mining core group leaders from six major provinces in the Philippines belonging to PNCASM are ready and willing to cooperate with the Duterte administration in realizing common goals.
Neglected
“We are hoping that Secretary Lopez will approve our request for a dialogue to talk about the future of artisanal and small-scale mining because we want to be part of the DENR’s programs,” he said, adding that tree-planting activities are, in fact, part of their group’s advocacy to help promote a healthy ecology.
The PNCASM said artisanal and small-scale mining has often been neglected by the government.
“We want the sector to be legalized, so that we can also pay taxes and help contribute to the economy,” he said.
While the DENR estimates that roughly 300,000 people are engaged in artisanal and small-scale mining, Buniales placed the number of people directly benefiting from artisanal and small-scale mining to 500,000. Including members of the family of an artisanal and small-scale miners, the number of people employed by the sector could easily reach at least a million.
Earning enough
“Artisanal and small-scale miners are earning enough. That is why we really want to work with the government to legalize our operation,” he said.
Artisanal and small-scale mining communities, particularly indigenous peoples, women and children, frequently lack valuable support from the government, said the group Ban Toxics, which helps PNCASM.
Small-scale mining contributes nearly half of the country’s annual gold output. In 1997 small-scale miners produced 14,062 kilograms of gold compared to the 17,137 kg total gold output of large-scale mining during the same period, according to a report entitled “Health and Environmental Impact of Mercury in Small-scale Gold Mining in the Philippines,” presented during the United Nations Environmental Programme and DENR Forum on Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in December 2010.
Risks
In the processing of gold by small-scale miners, gold extraction by amalgamation, which makes use of mercury during gold smelting, was highlighted. During gold smelting, an estimated 26 tons of mercury are dumped annually into bodies of water in Mindanao alone, posing serious environmental and health risks to people.
Under RA 7076, or the People’s Small-scale Mining Act of 1991, the state is mandated to promote, develop, protect and rationalize viable small-scale mining activities to generate more employment opportunities and provide an equitable sharing of the nation’s wealth and natural resources.
The law defines small-scale mining as mining activities that rely on manual labor using simple implement and methods and do not use explosives or heavy mining equipment normally used in large-scale mining or mineral extraction.
On the other hand, Executive Order 79, or the Measures to Improve Small-scale Mining Activities, mandates that small-scale mining operations shall be undertaken only within the declared People’s Small-scale Mining Areas, or Minahang Bayan.
Small-scale mining activities are also limited to extraction of gold, silver and chromite as provided for in RA 7076, and the use of mercury is strictly prohibited. The government is also mandated to provide training and capacity-building measures in the form of technical assistance for small-scale mining cooperatives and associations.
‘Selective leniency’
Mining’s big players criticize Lopez for being lenient against small-scale mining, which also causes massive environmental degradation, including pollution of water bodies with the use of toxic heavy chemicals.
While there are around 300,000 small-scale miners operating in various parts of the country, there are only five declared Minahang Bayan. These include two that were approved in December 2015 for Banaybanay, Davao Oriental, and Lorente, Eastern Samar.
The other three existing Minahang Bayan are in Buenavista, Quezon, Dinagat Island and in Agusan del Sur. Last year the target was to establish 16 more Minahang Bayan, or at least one per region.
Asked of the chances of approving Minahang Bayan applications this year, Lopez said she “seriously doubt” it will happen under her watch.
Crackdown
The DENR chief has been visiting mining communities to talk to people affected by mining. Under her watch, Lopez had caused the suspension of 10 large-scale mining operations and issued show-cause orders to 20 mining companies for various offense based on an audit criteria that includes social, environmental and biodiversity considerations.
Just last December, Lopez ordered the cancellation of existing environmental compliance certificates of six mining projects and a housing project within the La Mesa Watershed.
Lopez said almost all areas she visited so far gave her the impression that the community would have been much better off without mining.
She admitted that, partially, the government is at fault in allowing small-scale mining to happen.
“The fault is with the government,” Lopez said, adding that she will address the problem as chief steward of the country’s environment and natural resources.
“Mining kills the ecology. In this country of islands and rivers and streams and corals, open pits doom the community for life. There are better ways I want to show in the DENR while I am here,” Lopez said.
Lopez, who is strongly against open-pit mining methods, said she is concerned of the pollution brought about by small-scale mining to rivers and other bodies of water, as well.
The DENR chief said through various programs and projects, the DENR will help provide alternative sources of income and livelihood for people who depend on mining.
She wants miners, who stand to lose their jobs because of her campaign to weed out irresponsible mining, to become DENR partners for development through the Enhanced National Greening Program.
This year the DENR will embark on the massive rehabilitation of mangroves and establishment of bamboo plantations.
“My commitment is to get out people from poverty,” she said.