Benguet Corp. says small-scale miners ignored geohazard warning

Benguet Corp. on Monday said it conveyed geohazard warnings to small-scale miners who encroached on its land in Itogon, Benguet but they were ignored.

The company said it warned the miners it was unsafe to inhabit the area that was declared a geohazard by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

“BC issued notices to the small-scale miners who have occupied the old bunkhouses or put up shanties that the area has been declared as geohazard ... and is unsafe for habitation,” the company said in a regulatory filing signed by corporate secretary Hermogene H. Real.

The filing was submitted by senior vice president for Legal Services Reynaldo Mendoza.

Forty to 50 people were reported to have taken shelter in one of the company’s abandoned bunkhouses, which was converted into a chapel and an evacuation center.

The building, according to Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan, was among one the structures trapped by a landslide caused by Supertyphoon Ompong (international name: Mangkhut).

In a separate interview on Super Radyo dzBB earlier on Monday, Palangdan said that Benguet Corp. failed to rehabilitate the area, even after a sinkhole appeared in 2015.

“The persons affected are mostly small-scale miners who have been illegally operating in its Antamok claims. Their unregulated mining activities are without permission of the company,” said Benguet Corp.

“BC suspended its mining operations in the area in the late 1990s and was studying new technologies for mining low-grade ores. During the period of suspension, the Antamok mines was gradually encroached by the small-scale miners,” it added.

It warned the miners but they refused to leave the area, the company said

“Subsequent warnings, and notices from the company for the small-scale miners to vacate the area were met with resistance and outright refusal,” it explained.

The company said will coordinate with the local government to provide medical assistance to those affected by the landslide.

“As of press time, BC personnel, in coordination with the LGU, the MGB-CAR, and others are currently taking care of the affected small-scale miners and their families who have been evacuated in its staff house while it is helping in the search, rescue, and retrieval operations in the landslide area,” the company said.

Due to multiple landslides that happened in the region, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu ordered to put a stop to all small-scale mining operations in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News