Rep. Go address small-scale miners concern in Baguio

February 16, 2020 Headlines

BAGUIO CITY – Congressman Mark Go on Friday (Feb 14) said he is willing to hold hearings on his proposed House Bill (HB) No. 5619 –”AN ACT DECLARING THE CITY OF BAGUIO A MINING FREE ZONE AND PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR.”
“I am willing to hold hearings on my proposed bill. I will inform the House’ committee in-charge,” Go said as vowed to come up with a win-win solution to address the small-scale mining issue in the city and alleviate the plight of local pocket miners while he underscored measures to protect the environment.
Go’s action came after his meeting with some leaders of local small-scale mining associations which was on Friday. The meeting lasted for more than an hour and held at the representatives’ Baguio office.
He urged local pocket miners to commit themselves to practice responsible mining -for the good of the city and its populace.
The meeting was attended by Leoncio Na-oy of the Baguio Federation of Small-Scale Gold Miners Inc. (BFSSGM), also the group’s representative to the City Mining Regulatory Board (CMRB), Neri Reynold Fangloy ,president of Batawel Small-Scale Mining Association (Atok Trail) and Butch Cuilan (Uabac ,Camp 7, Kennon road).
Others who attended are City Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan , Faye Apil, officer-in-charge of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB- Cordillera) and one senior staff of the agency.
During the meeting,Go strongly requested the MGB to come up with “specifications” like suggestions –amendments and courses of actions on the issue.
Likewise,he urged MGB to come up with a timeline to tackle the issue. He suggested three to six months period.
Go appealed to MGB to come up with an “honest to goodness” list of areas feasible or applicable for the said mining activity in the city.
Apil said her office is ready to submit said list together with the Technical Working Group (TWG) report relative to the proposed bill.
Vice mayor Olowan, a key figure of his assistance to small-scale miners,urged MGB to focus on regulatory instead of conducting closures versus the operations of small-scale mining here.
He suggested also to conduct a larger meeting, by calling all small-scale miners operating in the city to find out the “real” sentiments and be able to arrive a realistic solutions.The meeting shall include members of the CMRB.
During the discussion, Na-oy also officer of Emerald Small-Scale Mining Association (Kias- PMA) said , years of experience, his group have been conducting regular environmental, health and safety programs in collaboration with the government and non-government organizations.
Na-oy added that local small-scale miners are not hesitant to pay taxes as he appealed that their small-mining activity as a source of livelihood be legalized.
Fangloy,for his part informed Go that his group had come up with an aquaculture project – alternative source of livelihood.
“I firmly believe that farming and mining (small-scale) could exist together,” said Fangloy , as he informed Go that his group’s hard work has paid off, sourcing an international funding from Czech Republic for the said project-aquaponics.
“Okay yan. We could used it as pilot area for minahang bayan ,” Go happily commented, pointing out similar opportunities in foreign countries which he visited.
 
Primo Agatep/ABN