BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – The 18
Chinese nationals held early this month for allegedly engaging in illegal black
sand mining in Aparri, Cagayan have been released by the Bureau of Immigration
(BI) to the custody of their employer.
Eva
Antiporda, alien control officer of BI-Aparri district, said the foreigners are
now with their company under recognizance, pending the filing of charges
against them for illegal mining before the Cagayan prosecutor’s office.
The 18
Chinese were identified as Wang Wendong, Yang Yongliang, Ma Peihua, Zhu Liren,
Hou Linlin, Fu Yujun, Xiao Peibao, Li Wenyong, Lu Liming, Jin Dejun, Li Laijie,
Wang Cheng, Jiang Bin, Lin Qiang, XuJiajun, Jiang Nan, ZhengFeng, and Wang
Gonglian.
Antiporda
said the foreigners were all documented as far as their entry into the country
is concerned. “But if they committed a crime, that’s another story. But as far
as we are concerned, they are all documented,” she said.
Antiporda,
however, said four of the Chinese have pending applications for working permits
while another one has an expired document.
Joint
operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Mines and
Geosciences Bureau (MGB) rounded up the 18 Chinese for allegedly conducting
black sand mining along Aparri’s coastal villages of Paddaya and Dodang
last Aug. 1 and 2.
They were
all working for Huaxia Trading and Mining Corp. Inc., which the MGB earlier had
ordered to “cease and desist” from extracting black sand or magnetite for
operating beyond their permitted area or within the prohibited zone.
The NBI
turned them over to the BI-Aparri following the raid for verification of their
status but they were released later to the custody of their company.
“We only
have limited facilities in our office, that’s why we released them to their
employer under recognizance,” Antiporda said.
Black sand
or magnetite, a rich resource along Cagayan’s northern coastlines, commands a
high price in foreign markets, as it is used as additive in manufacturing
concrete and steel products, magnets, paint, ink, paper, jewelry, and
cosmetics.
Secretary
Manuel Mamba, head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office who was
designated as head of the recently created Cagayan Task Force on Black Sand
Mining, said there will be no sacred cows in their efforts to end the illegal
activities.
The task
force, whose members include the NBI, MGB and the police, is under the Office
of the President’s Mining Industry Coordinating Council.
With the
creation of the task force, Mamba said illegal black sand mining operations in
Cagayan, “which are threatening our coastlines and marine resources, not to
mention the danger they pose to the fishing communities,” will eventually be
eradicated.
“At stake
here is not only millions of pesos but billions which only flows into the
pockets of those who are abetting the illegal operations to the detriment of
the environment and the very lives of our fishing communities,” Mamba said.
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