SEALED This mine tunnel in Barangay Licabang, Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur, is among the at the least 20 unlawful websites closed on Saturday by personnel from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and native authorities on Saturday, Feb 22. —Diocese of Pagadian
DUMINGAG, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR, Philippines — The Church-led each day picket that began right here on Feb. 12 led to the closure of unlawful mining tunnels in Barangay Licabang right here on Saturday, native authorities officers and Catholic clergymen mentioned.
Dumingag Mayor Gerry Paglinawan informed the Inquirer on Saturday that personnel from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), together with surroundings officers and safety forces, locked down at the least 20 mining tunnels within the village, barring the entrances of every tunnel with strong wooden.
Leaders of the Catholic Church witnessed Saturday’s closure of mining tunnels in Licabang however mentioned they weren’t dismantling their picket line but till all unlawful mining actions in different areas within the province have stopped.
READ: Unlawful mining in Zamboanga del Sur city probed
The unlawful mining tunnels in Licabang continued to function regardless of the stop and desist order (CDO) issued by the MGB on Might 4 final yr, prompting the Diocese of Pagadian and its parishes to carry a picket alongside the nationwide freeway in Barangay Licabang.
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The picket line, put up some 10 kilometers from the city correct of Dumingag and round 6 km from the just lately closed mining tunnels, is manned by parishioners from the completely different parishes of the diocese. Fr. Jonnie Atetio, parish priest of Tambulig and vicar forane of the Salug Valley’s St. Vincent Ferrer Vicariate, who joined authorities in closing the mine tunnels, mentioned he hoped the unlawful miners wouldn’t open the tunnels once more, as there have been incidents up to now when these miners went again to their tunnels months after these had been padlocked.
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Based on Atetio, they might not let their guard down since “the problem of unlawful mining doesn’t solely exist in Dumingag city however in the entire Zamboanga del Sur province.”
Pagadian Diocese vicar normal Rev. Monsignor Belstar Ediang, in a cellphone interview Saturday, affirmed the picket would keep in Barangay Licabang, close to the Provincial Atmosphere and Pure Assets Workplace checkpoint, to observe doable resumption of the unlawful mining operation.
The Pagadian Diocese additionally expressed alarm over the persevering with mining functions within the cities of Pitogo, Dimataling, Tabina and Tigbao.
Pagadian Bishop Martin Jumoad, in a Feb. 14 pastoral letter, highlighted the church’s concern over the environmental toll attributable to unlawful mining in Dumingag, regardless of the MGB’s CDO; and in Mahayag, Midsalip and Bayog.
“We should always take a stand towards [mining] in order that we don’t endure from the identical horrible results skilled elsewhere like in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, [when] their seas had been poisoned due to the waste coming from the mine,” a part of the pastoral letter learn.
The letter additionally cited the mining actions in Midsalip, which up to now resulted within the contamination of the city’s water and badly eroded its soil, affecting the communities close to the mining web site.
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Ediang mentioned the Diocese of Pagadian additionally known as on the authorities to briefly placed on maintain all the present functions for mining within the province so these may undergo correct environmental scrutiny earlier than these could be authorised.