DATE, 0-11223;719 DAY IN nEn INTIEWS strategic Communication and Anitiative Service STRATEGIC COMMUNICA DION I ME PAGE I ITZI EDITORIAL CARTOON STORY STORY elkiliwissisoNINWYNNO INITIATIVES PAGE WER '0.11001.1.8ir SERVIC'E Bunn' essliturri or 41 ir/IL Sth /Nur, t.3 I14 fte.#to/ cf nkinm 12-1 2vo rs P-tU- t o CIO frstAt At rAGET,(9F-60,1/4919/ Q DATE Duterte admin showcases political will anew in Diwalwal massive cleanup( rive MERCURY STOPS P! THE relocation area in Sitio Mabatas, Barangay Upper (Hip, Monkayo. MANUEL (AVON BY MANUEL T. CAYON IWALWAL, MONKAYO, Compostela Valley—The DDuterte administration's clean- up drive covering massive areas—with Boracay and Manila Bay as the prime examples—has reached Mindanao, after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) served the final cease-and-desist order (CDO) to small miners in the Diwalwal gold SOLDIERS were tapped to secure the residential and mining site and to provide security to the rush site. _ enforcement teams he aded by environment and natural resources officers. MANUEL (AVON been removed from the active min- This is another testament to The move has been set in mo-. the government's political will, as tion last week after both DENR ing and residential areas of Diwal- like in the other ambitious clean- field officers and local government wal, the dredging of the Naboc Riv- ups, to be affected are thousands officials served with finality the er would begin, Tawantawan said. of miners and their families, plus CDO that bans any further pro- The river is the main dump- their "influential" backers. cessing of gold ores near canals and ing waterway of these processing The DENR and its concerned rivers, and inside residential areas plants, which throw the mercury- units are saving the waterways in Diwalwal. and cyanide-laden water through around the area from further mer- the several tributary streams at cury contamination due to the Going, going, gone the western slope Of Mount Diwata decades of small-scale mining in AS soon as the last of the 1,797 I. Diwalwal that was often marred ball mills, which are used to Crush with violence. This, to date, is the rocks and stones, and the 31 car- biggest clean-up drive in Mindan- bon in-pulp (CIP) machines, used ao by Environment Secretary Roy to separate the gold from the ore Cimatu, DENR Assistant Secretary dusts by applying cyanide, has: Ruth M. Tawantawan said. STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PAGE 1 BANNER EDITORIAL CARTOON STORY elk INITIATIVES iminsie PAGE LOWER j 51r, I.u)u Nearions" SERVICE Bunn' essMirror „ :vv4IF 4 111:4n.ln wn‘ TITLE iS 4;74 air/ s-tors RisiNc. IN Dik441t44L11- DATE pond, and to process the rocks that and the facilities needed for resi- must be crushed and refined at the dential occupancy were already in- mountain range, which straddles ball mills. stalled. the provinces of Compostela Valley "It would take one day to crush and Surigao del Sur. The relocation in Mabatas is' and pulverize one sack of these intended to remove the families "The dredging would start im- rocks," he said. from shanties perched atop the mediately, but it would be contract- The serving officers were di- slopes with tension cracks deVelop- ed by private groups via bidding," vided, though, with one assuring she said. ing underneath, although the main him that he could negotiate it with goal is to bring the processing mills "That's the initial discussion, the higher officials. away from the rivulets and streams so that it would be fair. Whoever Another small processor would that feed into the Naboc River, a wants to dredge Naboc, anyone rather stop his processing activi- tributary of the Agusan River. who can separate and handle well ties. "It is difficult to get gold from The heavy contamination by the mercury, as well as the other the ores. These few years, a gram of mercury of the Naboc River even- minerals, is welcome to bid, Tawan- gold could be extracted from three tawan added." tually found significant traces into to four sacks of rock ores. That's the Davao Gulf in the 1990s, and It would be conducted "defi- how it is getting to be scarce." forced the government to clamp nitely this year," she added. A company-sized unit of Army down on the wanton use of mer- "Our patience ended [on soldiers was tapped to secure the cury and cyanide. March 14] and we would be filing residential and mining site and to Toward the end of the 1990s and charges against those who still re- provide security to the enforce- way into the decade of the 2000s, the sist, because it has been a long time ment teams headed by 11 com- Mabatas site was ignored, as miners already," she said. The last grace munity environment and natural and barangay officials argued that period was given between October resources officers (Cenros) and five government has not constructed the last year and March this year. provincial environment and natu- necessary structures, like a tailings Every day of violation of ral resources officers (Penros). dam, and basic infrastructure for ci- the CDO would merit a fine of They would serve the order to vilian occupancy. P200,000. the more than 300 operators of The order to relocate the resi- So far, there were no violent 1,797 ball mills and 31 CIPs. dents and the processing machines opposition to the teams of provin- to Mabatas began a few years im- cial and community environment Still unused mediately after the government and natural resources officers who THE relocation area has been took over the small-scale mining served the order between March 15 prepared already in Sitio Maba- operation in the 729-hectare Di- and March 17 to the 316 owners of tas, where a tailings dam was walwal mines in 2002. The Na- the ball mills and CIPs scattered in also carved out from within the tional Task Force Diwalwal soon the various residential areas of Ba- 60-hectare area, a part of it hedged rangay Diwalwal. subdivided the scattered and vio- in by a cemented wall to contain lence-wracked control of the tun- The DENR said the dtedging the mines tailings. Additional wall nels into cooperatives. and clean-up of the Naboc River would be constructed atop the ex- is crucial because it goes straight Malacanang also established isting wall, as the tailings would here the offices of its corporate arm to the Agusan River, the coun- continue to build up through the on mining, the Philippine Min- try's third-largest river basin, years, Tawantawan said. ing Development Corp., and the which drains into an estimated The Mabatas area is 5 kilome- 121000-square-kilometer area, in- DENR's corporate arm, the Natural ters to the west and down the slope Resources Development Corp. cluding the Agusan Marsh, a wild- of Barangay Diwalwal. life sanctuary. "The area . has been there, Compliance Fewer grumbles ready, but it has not been used," she "THE mining operators have no said. other recourse but to comply," Ba- EDGARDO BAYAWA, one of those Last year, lawyer .Alberto Si- rangay Captain Pedro Samillano served with the CDO, pleaded with paco, former regional director of said. serving officers from the , local the Commission on Human Rights so. Mines and Geosciences Bureau and The miners, he added, appar- and currently designated president ently held on to last-minute hope, the Environmental Management of the Philippine Mining Develop- Bureau, to allow him 10 more days as in the previous attempts, that ment Corp., announced that the the order would not be served. at most to haul the unprocessed civilian infrastructure needed to gold lying idle at a small tailings "They called me up or sent text transfer the processing equipment me'ssages telling me that the DENA STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION B UPP PAGE B ItElt EDRORIAl CARTOON STORY STORY INITIATIVES ea PAGE WER IRMIMIISIMIng usmessMwror 111=1.1111Mr SERVICE II10 40 IiM /10114M 23 MAR 2 019 DATE Maruivy Sops Alwic IN eabiudad.,- PAGE 1/ k Ci THE relocation in Mabatas is intended to remove the families from shanties perched atop the slopes with tension cracks developing underneath, although the main goal is to bring the processing mills away from the rivulets and streams that feed into the !labor River, a tributary of the Agusan River. MANUEL CATON has arrived in the area. They asked Uy did not attend the send-off pro- P1 million a year, "but not on the me what to do". gram down in Monkayo poblacion. share of these gold extracted from "Of course, I told them to com- The Uys own then one of the five the mines, but from building per- ply," he said. major tunnel portals in Diwalwal. mits and business taxes." Tawantawan said it was differ- The DENR said, however, that He said the displacement's ef- ent now. "It is the political will of the Uys and owners of the other fect would be hardest in the next the President that spelled the dif- portals have yielded to the gov- three months. "With nothing to ference. It must be implemented ernment's relocation program and find work, or any source of income, and we made it clear that we now cleanup of the Naboc River. these people would starve," Samil- have to enforce it". Samillano said the national lano warned. Mining officials also said in government must also do its share "Diwalwal would comply with their speeches shortly before go- to help these people who would be this enforcement, but the govern- ing up to Mount Diwalwal that displaced.