Court orders: Stop all small scale mining in Mt Province

BONTOC, Mountain Province – The Regional Trial Court here recently ordered stop of all small scale mining activities in the province particularly Barangay Mainit here and directed concerned officials and government offices to enforce the order as these were illegal.

RTC judge Joseph D. Patnaan, in his order, gave credence to plea of the heirs of Elizabeth G. Okoren represented by Edward C. Okoren as petitioners for issuance of writ of continuing mandamus and permanent protection order to stop Mainit mining activities.

Petitioners said illegal mining intruded on their lands and posed danger not only to them but also to the community. Lawyers PablitoSanidad Sr. his son Pablito Sanidad Jr. and Francesca Claver handled the case for petitioners, said Edward Okoren.

Respondents included Christopher Culalad, Donald Sagudang and Herman Fawayan as alleged operators of Mainit mining operations.

Also named as respondents were Manuel L. Pogeyed in his capacity as provincial environment natural resources officer, Cornelio Diego as environment natural resources officer and engineer Fay Apil as then officer in charge regional director of Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources- Cordillera  Administrative Region.

Apil is now the head of the regional Geo-Sciences Boardand Provincial Mining Regulatory Board chair.

Other respondents were Gov. Leonard Mayaen, Benjamin Challoy as Bontoc chief of police, former regional police chief Benjamin Magalong(now national Criminal Investigation Detection  Group head) and Bureau of Internal Revenue-CAR representative Eduardo T. Bajador.

Edward C. Okoren, who represented petitioners, said in their petition that sometime in April 2013, they learned certain individuals were digging mine tunnels underneath their property and other parts of the barangay.

Okoren said he inquired from Apil if mining permits were issued by the MGB or the PMRB over the area particularly at Avoo-os, Mainit wherein the latter said there were none.

Following this, an inspection done over the area by a team led by engineer Gilbert Ayugat of MGB and Archibald Tabbang and Alexander Kediam of CENRO found there were indeed illegal mining activities in the area.

In his ruling, Patnaan ordered the setting up of checkpoints in Mainit to be manned by environment and police officers and avert and environmental disaster.

He noted there were no arrests and charges filed against illegal miners, operators or financiers considering they have been hauling out ore and precious materials like gold and copper out of the province.

“To effectively stop illegal mining activities which result to untold danger to human lives and irreparable impairment of the environment, actions and measures beyond stoppage orders must be implemented with urgency such as setting up check points to apprehend and file charges against transports of ore without permit, apprehension of illegal loggers and confiscation of illegally cut timber and filing mining and filing charges against them, and constant inspection and monitoring to ensure that illegal mining and illegal cutting of trees and other illegal activities destructive of the environment are stopped.

In sum, the failure of the public respondents to stop the illegal mining activities at Mainit, Bontoc, Mountain Providence coupled with the doctrine of intergenerational responsibility enunciated by the Supreme Court in the case of Oposa relative to environmental concerns which mandates that the present generation must ensure that the next generation yet unborn shall enjoy a healthful and balanced ecology, the evidence clearly showing that indiscriminate, unsupervised, and crude illegal mining activities and illegal cutting of trees pose extreme danger to life and limb of the miners and members of the community, the urgent need to prevent further impairment of the environment and to put in place measures for the proper development, utilization, and proper conservation of natural resources compels this court to grant the write prayed for.

“Wherefore, judgment is hereby rendered ordering the public respondents to stop all illegal small scale mining activities and other illegal activities destructive of the environment at Mainit, Bontoc, Mountain Province.”

Patnaan also ordered public officials to make an inventory of illegal small scale miners of Mainit and issue stoppage orders.

Patnaan cited the petitioners for their stand in taking action for a healthy and balanced ecology in the area and taking the issue to court when they felt these were not being addressed.