Gold deep in the bowels of Mt. Diwata in Diwalwal, Compostela Valley province may have made a good number of miners, mainly those engaged in large scale operations, filthy rich—but, definitely not the provincial government itself.
“We have several mining areas in Compostela Valley, but the province has not gotten much revenue from such activities,” bared Compostela Valley governor Arthur T. Uy.
It has been estimated that Diwalwal holds up to US$18 billion worth of gold, making it a magnet for large scale investors, and for thousands of fortune hunters who are dreaming of making it big in Diwalwal someday.
Uy said the province only gets a certain percentage from the two percent excise tax which goes to the national treasury.
“At the time I assumed office, the province had collected only P300,000 from the mining activities,” he said. “Maraming yumaman sa Comval after the gold-rush started, but the province did not benefit much from it,” he added.
Instead of earning a huge income from Compostela Valley’s mining activities, he said, the province has suffered from pollution.
While gold used to be anybody’s business in Diwalwal before Uy’s administration, it has all changed. When he assumed office, two areas have been identified as potential gold-rush areas in the province, namely, Pamintaran in the municipality of Maragusan and Tagnokon in Nabunturan.
Uy has imposed stricter rules to properly monitor the mining activities in the province, and to ensure the safety of the miners and the residents. “The miners are not allowed to reside in the area while vendors cannot sell there,” he said.
The provincial government has also designated an area for the processing of gold near the mining site but at a safe distance. “We want to avoid casualties in the future in case of accidents,” he said.
“The Pamintaran site can be a model mining area in the future since the miners are strictly instructed to only dig tunnels that are at least 30 meters apart from each other,” he said. A Crisis Management Task Force has also been created to evaluate and settle intrusions and bickerings in the mining area.
Uy admitted that the Diwalwal area has already been declared by the Mines and GeoSciences Bureau as an extremely high risk area. This is the reason why several clusters of mining summits have been held.
He has also encouraged miners to form cooperatives and to lead their members away from the mining site in case of heavy rains. The miners are also urged to plant more trees in the area.
“So far they are complying with the rules and regulations laid down by the province,” he said. Uy has already issued over ten small scale mining permits in the area.
Compostela Valley is still heavily reliant on its internal revenue allotment (IRA) with 85 percent of its expenses derived from the IRA. [Lovely A. Carillo]
