BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO
BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya (July 17)—The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 2 has appealed to local officials to relocate any illegal settlers in hazard-prone areas near a mining area in Barangay (village) Runruno in Quezon town.
In a letter, MGB Region 2 director Mario Ancheta urges Quezon town mayor Dolores Binwag and Runruno village chief John Bab-liing to resettle those who are staying put in a geohazard area to avoid a possible repeat of fortuitous events during the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses causing landslides triggered by the inclement weather conditions.
On November 11 last year, rescuers have recovered 10 bodies that were buried by landslides near the mining area in Runruno as a result of the heavy downpour brought by Typhoon Ulysses affecting illegal settlers there.
According to village officials, most of the victims of landslide in Sitio Bit-ang, Kinalabasa and Compound 1, all in Runruno village, were from the neighboring Quirino and Ifugao provinces.
Runruno village in this town hosts the multibillion peso FCF Minerals Corp., a London-based mining company that operates the Runruno Gold-Molybdenum Project. FCF was among the four mining companies in the Philippines issued by the national government with a financial or technical assistance agreement (FTAA) under the Mining Act of 1995.
In cooperation with village officials, FCF Minerals has identified 411 illegal settlers and 337 among them have already resettled in a safer place after receiving monetary assistance from the mining company but some refused to leave and did not accept any assistance.
According to Ancheta, the landslide tragedy last year was the same story in 2006 when Typhoon Paeng, the monsoon rains of September 2018 and other weather disturbances that brought significant damages to lives and properties in the same village.
“We expect that the volume of rainfall this rainy season might even increase that is why we have issued a warning asking remaining illegal settlers to leave for good for their safety from the hazard-prone areas,” he said.
“To abate the recurrence of these fortuitous events, we would like to reiterate our concern regarding the geohazard condition within your area and to consider our recommendation for relocation of people/residents within areas identified as highly prone to landslide and flood,” Ancheta said in his letter the LGUs.
He said Runruno village as per their geohazard mapping and assessment showed high-to-very-high susceptibility to both landslide and flooding which endangers illegal settlers in those areas identified.
“After our geohazard study, we recommended the evacuation of the local government-declared illegal dwellers and settlers as the area has very high susceptibility to natural hazards,” Ancheta said.
He said the MGB has repeatedly presented to Runruno LGU their geo-hazard assessment and findings and told settlers there to vacate the sub-villages, particularly Bit-Ang which is most highly susceptible to flooding and landslide.
According to LGU officials, a report has been confirmed that illegal settlers, after receiving financial assistance, begin to return to the geohazard areas even when the local government has already identified a 2.1-hectare relocation site in neighboring Barangay Boliwao.
FCF Minerals country manager James Carmichael said they have been following the situation with barangay, municipal, provincial officials and line government agencies so that none of the settlers who are still in the hazard-prone areas are affected when they proceed with their operation, particularly near those areas.
Meanwhile, FCF officials has also identified more than 400 illegal settlers and small-scale miners, some with ball mills established, within the mine’s FTAA-covered area of operation in Runruno village.