ZAMBOANGA CITY: Police seized a cache of weapons and explosives and tons of hazardous chemicals used by illegal miners in the mountain town of Bayog in Zamboanga del Sur province.

Police also filed criminal charges against a town councilor and 15 others following a raid at the miners’ hideout in the town of Balabag, following recent government crackdown against illegal mining operations.

Senior Supt. Edgar Danao, regional chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, reported that they raided the compound owned by Bayog town council member Julieto Monding and seized assorted weapons and explosives.

He said that they also confiscated from the compound some 13 high-powered firearms, M16 rifles and KG9 sub-machine gun; 4,000 meters of detonating cord, four sacks of commercial dynamites and assorted munitions, including nitric acid and tons of highly toxic and deadly cyanide, used in illegal gold processing operation.

Danao said that they have 21 search warrants issued by the court. They also swooped down on Monding’s 14-rod mills and dozens of carbon-in-pulp plants.

Long-time operators
Monding, who is running for mayor in next year’s polls, is also a member of the Monte de Oro Small Scale Miners Association (Mossma), which is illegally operating in Balabag for decades now. Their operation was halted after a government order was enforced recently by authorities, putting a stop to all forms of illegal mining activities in the town.

“The operation is not mining related, nor it is related to the implementation of the cease and desist order issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau. It is purely police matter. It is more on peace keeping since it is widely known that there are high-powered firearms and explosives in Balabag. It is for crime prevention because we know there is lawlessness and high rise of criminality in the area,” Danao said.

“We could not have filed airtight cases without the hard work of our intelligence operatives in the area. I am commending my men because while they worked hard to meet our objective, respect for people’s rights were observed,” he added.

He said that nine of those charged are members of the indigenous Subanon tribe who are natives of the area. There was no immediate statement either from Monding and the others or the Mossma about the charges against them.

The Department of Interior and Local Government earlier ordered an investigation into the illegal activities of Monding and other town officials allegedly involved in clandestine mining operations in Balabag.

Writ of Kalikasan
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is now consolidating pieces of evidence that will lead to the filing of Writ of Kalikasan against illegal miners in Balabag due to the magnitude of environmental destruction they caused in their almost 30 years of mining operation.

Writ of Kalikasan is a legal remedy under Philippine law, which provides for the protection one’s right to “a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.” It also protects one’s right for a healthy environment.

Lawyer Jose Rommel Ramirez, chief of the NBI’s Environment and Wildlife Protection Division, said that decades of illegal mining operations in the area have affected not only the residents of Bayog, but the province as well.

He said that Mayor Leonardo Babasa Jr. of Bayog town and several village officials have submitted their sworn statements attesting several violations by illegal miners of the Mining Act of 1995 and other environmental laws.

Gov. Antonio Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur said that illegal mining operation in Balabag has contaminated water supplies in Sibugay Valley that is largely used by farmers for irrigation in the town of Bayog, Imelda, Buug, Diplahan and Siay.

“Farmers from these municipalities are getting irrigation waters from Dipili River whose tributaries include Balabag and Depore Creeks,” he said.

He said that tons of mine wastes heavily laden with mercury and cyanide flowed out freely from shallow ponds dug by illegal miners and merged with the waters from Dipili River. The Dumaguillas bay has become the catch basin of the waters from river.

Fish kills were also reported in the area and had been largely blamed to illegal mining operation from Balabag.

Cerilles said that wastes from Balabag might be one of the causes of the recurring red tide in Dumaguillas Bay, the source of marine products in the province.

Depore village chieftain Romeo Sungcad said that many residents have suffered long enough from the environmental destruction wrought by the illegal mining operations. “We can’t make use of the Dipili River anymore because we know it is laced with toxic chemicals like cyanide and mercury,” he said.

Sungcad said that his rice paddies have turned reddish due to pollution caused by illegal mining and that he reported this to the Department of Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Ernesto Mancao, a council member of Depore, said the massive siltation caused by illegal mining activities flowed from Balabag down to residential and farming areas.