Ramos orders probe on Benguet mining tragedy

By Zards Gacad

ITOGON, Benguet -- Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Horacio Ramos Thursday ordered his field officials in the Cordillera Administrative Region to dig deeper into the reported flooding of an underground mining area here that claimed the lives of three small-scale miners Tuesday.

The three fatalities were identified as Jojo Ramirez, 24, of Mabini, Pangasinan; Edgar Sucalo, 36, of Pozorrubio, Pangasinan; and Rolly Gilles, 40, from Southern Leyte.

The survivors were identified as Marlon Patras of Tuba, Benguet; Mardy Bagni of Tadian, Mountain Province; and Robert Bati of Mabini, Pangasinan. Except for Sucalo, the other five were LMA members.

This, even as he asked local residents to refrain from entering the underground tunnel of the Benguet Corp. in Luneta, Antamok, Itogon to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Ramos said that based on a report, six illegal small scale miners were trapped Tuesday inside the company’s working area at Luneta, when the water of a nearby river entered the area, causing the back and walls of the tunnel to collapse.

According to Ramos, the trapped miners, who are members of the Luneta Miners Association (LMA) illegally entered the tunnel at around 6 p.m. of March 29 despite a warning from the Benguet Corp., which operates the area, as early as February 2010.

“The three survivors were rescued the following day at around 9 a.m. while the bodies of the three fatalities were recovered around 2:30 in the afternoon of the same day,” Ramos bared.

Ramos added that DENR-Cordillera mining officials noted that no incident report on the accident was sent by LMA to local DENR office nor to BC officials, who had earlier issued a Cease and Desist Order to all illegal miners in the area to keep out of BC’s area as early as February this year.

Ramos said that based on the records of Mines and Geo Sciences Bureau, the activities at the site were not covered by any small scale mining permit.