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DENR-MGB R02 Regional
Task Force Acts on the Reported Resumption of Dredging Operation
The Mines and Geosciences
Bureau Regional Office No. 02 Regional Task Force immediately dispatched at Barangay Catayauan, Lal-lo, Cagayan on January
20 to 23, 2009 after a report thru SMS messaging by Rev. Fr. Pio Rino L. Guaring, Director/Principal of Lyceum of Lal-lo,
that the dredging operation in the area had resumed despite the Cease and Desist Order issued by the MGB and Environmental
Management Bureau (MGB), R02 last year.
The team headed by Mr.
Socrates Bosi, Legal Officer of MGB R02, together with Mining Engr. Geoffrey V. Prado, Andrews de Austria and Jose Delos Santos
proceeded first at the Lyceum of Lal-lo to talk to Fr. Guaring regarding his allegation but he was not around for an official
trip in Manila. In lieu with the Principal, the Registrar of the said school assigned two residents of Lal-lo to accompany
the team in its investigation.
At the site of dredging
operation, the team were able to talk to Mr. Florante Paat, the representative of San You Philippines Mining Trade, a Chinese
firm that entered a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Local Government Unit of Lal-lo. According to Paat, the dredging
equipment/vessels were docked since October last year and that no activity of dredging and processing has been done since
the issuance of the CDO. He also claimed that the Chinese operators and crews went home in China for the celebration of the
Chinese New Year and that they did not yet come back.
After the interview with
Paat, the team also inspected the stockpiled magnetite sand in the said area but it noted that there was no increase in the
volume as when last visited last year. What caught the attention of the team was the 2 stockpile of manganese ore that were
covered with canvass. Investigation revealed that it came from the small-scale mining area at Sitio Mammit, Dagupan, Lal-lo,
Cagayan.
The team then advised
the representative of the Chinese mining firm that the CDO has not been lifted and still in effect and that the dredging equipment/vessels
and the magnetic processing plant shall remain inactive.
While the team was in the area, and due to some
allegations of illegal extraction of magnetite sand, they also included in their monitoring the dredging operation at Barangays
Gen. Batalla, Camalaniugan that was also issued a CDO and the alleged illegal extraction and magnetite processing at Barangay
Dodan, Aparri, Cagayan. They found out that Shaitan Cagayan Sand and Gravel Corporation operating in the former has stopped
since the issuance of the CDO. The same thing with the latter that also stopped but stockpile of processed magnetite sand
of more or less 3,000 metric tons was observed in the area. According to Engr. Purdine Lim who owned the magnetite processing
plant, they were allowed to operate the processing plant for a dry test. He even claimed that the Municipal Mayor of Aparri
issued a temporary business permit last November 2008 to a small-scale mining permittee at the Dodan, Aparri.
They were then advised by the team not to
operate until such time that they secure a Mineral Processing Permit, Environmental Compliance Certificate, Certificate of
Electrical Inspection of the processing plant and the Permit to Operate. (MGB-R02 MIAC-IEC
Section)
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