PMRB asked to grant temporary mining permit to small-scale miners

September 30, 2019 Community Billboard

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet- Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners, Inc. president Lomimo Kaniteng strongly appealed to the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) chairman Fay Apil to grant Temporary Small- Scale Mining Permit (TSSMP) to pocket miners in the province.

In the recent PMRB meeting (Sept. 26,2019), Kaniteng reiterated the earlier board action which approved a guideline allowing small-scale miners with pending application for a minahang bayan to operate the respective area through temporary mining permit.

But despite the strong worded appeal of Kaniteng, himself a member of the regulatory board, and president of the Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners, Inc., received a strong opposition from Apil, who is the regional director of the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau-Cordillera (MGB-CAR).

“There is no legal basis in granting small-scale mining permit to small-scale miners,” Apil told Amianan Balita Ngayon (ABN) after the PMRB meeting.

To soften the issue, however, Apil said MGB and PMRB are doing their best to fast tracked the processing of MB applications. During the discussion of the issue, Kaniteng, representing small-scale miners in the province, pointed further that the board guideline was backed by a resolution adopting Guideline 002, Series of 2019,citing Section 23 of Republic Act 7076, which “provides that small-scale miners who have been in actual operation of mineral lands on or before Aug.1, 1987 as determined by the board shall not dispossessed, ejected or removed from said areas.”

This is as long as they comply with the provisions in the approved guidelines and requirements based on the PMRB resolution, noted Kaniteng, recently elected vice-president for Luzon of the Philippine National Coalition of Small-Scale Miners.

”The Board received petitions by various small-scale miners for lifting of the Stoppage Order against them, in order for them to have a source of livelihood survive the hardship of life, “ the resolution states.

A copy of the PMRB resolution was submitted to Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu for his information and appropriate action. To date, no reply was received by the board.

In a related development, Santiago Bugnosen of MGB-CAR and member of the PMRB’s Technical Working Group reported that currently a total 51 individuals were already granted with a small-scale mining license, paving the way for the issuance of a TSSMP and Small-Scale Mining Contract (SSMC).

Provincial Environment Officer Joseph Cervantes also reported that presently there are 1,173 registered small-scale miners in the province.

Primo Agatep/ABN