PROBE SET ON SILTATION OF COMVAL RIVER

Open pit mining placing
ComVal ricelands in danger

The Compostela Valley Provincial Board is investigating a mining firm dumping wastes into a river feeding one of the province’s main irrigation systems.
Board Member Neri Barte urged on Wednesday a probe on Batoto Resources-Philco Mining he alleged dumps wastes into Batoto River, which provides water to the Batoto Irrigation System that serves hundreds of hectares of rice lands in New Bataan and Compostela municipalities.
In a privilege speech, Barte said the mining company has been indiscriminately dumping into Batoto River its wastes from open pit mining operations in Compostela. The company is armed with an exploration permit, but Barte said it is already extracting minerals in full operation even as it is yet to get government permit.
The issue was tossed for investigation to the committee on environment and natural resources chaired by Board Member Moran Takasan and the committee on legal matters headed by Board Member Peter Ruel Gonzaga.
In his speech, Barte said Philco, the original holder of the exploration permit issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), has a history of violating the environment and mining laws. Twenty years ago, he said that Philco, which has now partnered with Batoto Resources, also had been probed by the Provincial Board for causing massive siltation of Batoto River triggering massive damages to hundreds of hectares of rice lands in New Bataan and Compostela which are the province’s major rice producing municipalities.
The two committees would be starting next week the probe on the mining company. The Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board (PMRB) would be invited to shed light on the status of the mining permit of the company. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources would be also asked to attend in wake of reports that BatotoResources-Philco has been issued an exploration permit that also included an area covered by a Community-Based Forestry Management Agreement (CBFMA) issued to a farmer’s group.