BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO
QUEZON, Nueva Vizcaya (August 4)—An initial amount of P45.32 million was allotted for the establishment of a resettlement area for the displaced illegal small-scale miners and settlers in the gold-rich upland subvillages of Barangay Runruno.
Mayor Dolores Binwag said the amount of P40 million will come from the National Housing Authority which is expected to be transferred to the local government unit (LGU) account upon completion of all the requirements.
Binwag said the Quezon LGU has already purchased a two-hectare land amounting to P2.4 million for the 74 prequalified households from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)-declared geohazard zones in Runruno village.
The LGU has already raised an amount of around P3 million. The FCF Minerals Corp. that manages and operates the Runruno Gold-Molybdenum Project under a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) with the national government also provided financial assistance to settlers who were moved out from the geohazard areas within its FTAA area.
“We are in hurry for the construction of the resettlement houses because of the danger posed by the landslide-prone areas where small-scale miners and settlers remain with their illegal activities there,” she said.
Binwag said they cannot afford to have another disaster happen in the mining subvillages, where 10 individuals were buried due to landslides during the onslaught of Typhoon “Ulysses” in November 2020.
“The blame is always on the LGU. We don’t want a repeat of the tragedy resulting in the loss of 10 lives only to find out that they were illegal settlers who directly and indirectly engage in illegal small-scale mining,” she said.
Binwag said they found out that most of those who engaged in the illegal small-scale mining business were from the nearby provinces of Quirino and Ifugao.
“We are more concerned about lives than their livelihood, especially now that the weather is turning very inclement due to the start of the rainy season,” she said.
Last week, MGB Region 2 Director Mario Ancheta deputized National Bureau of Investigation Region 2 Director Gelacio Bonggat to dismantle close to 20 mineral ball mill machines used by illegal small-scale miners and settlers in Runruno particularly in the subvillage of Balcony.