Guimaras solon to pass bill excluding the province from country's mine sites
Guimaras Representative JC Rahman Nava is planning to sponsor a bill before the House of Representatives seeking for the exclusion of the island-province of Guimaras from the country's list of mining sites.
This was confirmed Monday by Governor Felipe Nava, brother of Rep. Nava.
Governor Nava said there are other areas in the country which could accommodate mining activities. He said mining activities will displace the people and destroy watershed areas in the island They are also very concerned about the possible impact of mining on the island's water supply in the future.
He explained that mining activities is contrary to the development plan of the provincial government which is being developed as an eco-agri tourism site.
The governor added if mining activities are allowed in the province, it will also destroy the Taklong Island National Marine Reserve as well as the rich fishing ground of the province. It may affect not only Guimaras but also Iloilo and Negros Occidental, he said.
At present, the national office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) already approved one application for the mineral production sharing agreement and one exploration permit application.
The exploration permit application of the Fil-Asian Strategic Resources and Properties Corporation was approved by the DENR. The exploration permit covers 2,483,32 hectares of land in the town of Nueva Valencia. The area applied covers 20 percent of the total land area of the town.
The national government also granted the mineral production sharing agreement application of Dorilag Cement Corporation. The total applied area for mineral production sharing agreement is 1,794.60 hectares. The permit will allow the applicant to mine 1,304.60 hectares of land in the town of Jordan and Buenavista of 490 hectares of limestone.
There are also two pending exploration permit applications for the towns of Jordan, Sibunag, Nueva Valencia and San Lorenzo. The applications of Global Philippine Mining and Development Corporation and Next Generation and Development Corporation are on process. The total applied area for the two corporations is 32,179 hectares. They want to explore and check the available minerals such as iron, copper and gold in the applied sites.
Gov. Nava added they have started their advocacy activities manifesting their strong opposition to the entry of large scale mining activities in the province. Small scale mining activities however may be allowed in the island.
Series of barangay information consultations has been conducted in several barangays to inform the people about the destruction caused by mining activities in the environment.