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First Posted on Inside Mindanao (www.insidemindanao.com) on November 19, 2009

Cantilan town residents prevent mining firm to transport mineral ore
By Gabrielle Icban

Close to 2,000 residents of Cantilan town, Surigao del Sur joined in the installation of a checkpoint aimed at preventing the mining company Marcventures Mining & Development Corporation (MMDC) to transport mineral ore.

Fisher folks, farmers, indigenous people, religious groups, teachers, students, government officials, entrepreneurs of Cantilan town joined in the checkpoint installation held last Nov. 16.

Baywatch, an environmental group based in Cantilan, in a statement said that the checkpoint, which is strategically located in the highway crossing of barangay Pag–antayan, will be manned round the clock by local police and volunteers.

MMDC has already established a mineral stockyard in barangay Consuelo after Horacio C. Ramos, director of the Mines Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), issued a mining permit to MMDC.

Baywatch said the mineral stockyard of MMDC violates Local Ordinance No. 18–2008 which prohibits the construction of stockyards for the purpose of storing mineral ore within 500 meters of the shoreline.

Despite the fact that the DENR issued a mining permit to MMDC, Baywatch said that MMDC still has no right to extract minerals in Cantilan for the reason that the mining company failed to get permits from local government units – a necessary requirement under the Philippine Mining Act.

Baywatch added, "It (MMDC) also violated pertinent provisions of the Local Government Code of 1991, particularly Sections 26, Duty of National Government Agencies in the Maintenance of Ecological Balance and Section 27, Prior Consultations Required."

The local government of Cantilan and the local governments of the neighboring towns of Carrascal and Madrid opposed the mining application of MMDC on the ground that MMDC mining activities fall within the watershed area – vital in the irrigation and domestic water supply of the three towns. The local government of the province of Surigao del Sur also refused to endorse the mining application of MMDC on the same ground.

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