TRAILS UP NORTH

Glo Abaeo Tuazon
Secret of the tunnels

ITOGON, Benguet -- For a long time the tunnels of the mines have always been closed to the public. For reasons of security, the need to be covert was a necessity. For "gold is always heavy" and the lures are plenty, the smell of the ore is enough to drive people crazy, out of necessity, or for greed, and it does not choose the victim.

Everybody knows the temptations of gold, for even in the beginning when it was first discovered it has driven a lot of people to the brink of hostility and violence. The good fortune that a few lucky people attained and put into good use are swell stories. On the other hand at the opposite are dark tales of betrayals and eventual downfalls, mostly because of greed.

The big and huge companies are not spared this luck and curse. They too have their shares of these. But like everything in this earth, something comes to exhaustion, even gold. Most of the gold and other mineral mines in the Philippines have roots and inspiration from Benguet. In the early years of the occupation of the Europeans to the coming of the Americans in the 19th century, gold was one thing that lured them to this upland station, they say for rest and recreation. The deeper reason though is the smell and sight of gold wafting in the cold, mountainous terrains of the Cordilleras. This is a rich, rich land, and one with a very comforting landscape too.

The mother company to first establish a gold mine in the country is Benguet Corp. back in 1903. Balatoc Mines and the adjoining mine sites in Benguet as well as those in Zambales when excavated gave out promises of gold, copper, lime and chromite.

In the history of mining, it is well documented that the company is the largest one in the whole Philippines and surprisingly in a very small country the 16th largest in the world too. That was before hard times hit the market in the late 1980's.

From that time on, the hordes of families that drove to become part of the mining community back in the late sixties to the seventies were retrenched and given remunerations to start out anew in other fields and labors away from the community they called home for most of their years. That is the way the land gets back to us. It gives but comes a time when we exhaust the bounties of the earth. And then people learn and move on to another...

Today, in the once famous land of Benguet Gold-Rush in Balatoc, they opened their gates to tourism and the secrets of the tunnels were revealed. From the pick to the hoe to the machines that miraculously bring out muck to be sifted for gold, they lay there to be viewed -- like icons of those that served and lived and left memories in the mine sites. -- email: twilight_glo@yahoo.com