Home | To bottom

Bulk water reservior to displace miners

ITOGON, Benguet (Oct. 17) — The relocation site at the L070 of the Antamok Mines will not be enough to accommodate all small scale miners who will be displaced by Benguet Corporation’s (BC) water reservoir for its proposed bulk water supply project (BWSP) it is offering the Baguio Water District.

The Antamok open pit mines, the proposed reservoir, is now the workplace of some 2,000 or more small scale miners, according to Itogon Councilor Johnny Galutan.

LMA (Luneta Miners’ Association) alone has 1,500 members,” Galutan disclosed, “and there are two more associations working the place,” referring to the Loacan Itogon Pocket Miners’ Association (LIPMA) and Antamok-Saldine Miners’ Association (ASMA).

Galutan said that BC promised before that the small scale miners will be allowed to mine the open pit once large scale production ceases in the area. “Idi rugianda ti open pit, kunada nga ited da kadakami daytoy inton malpasda,” Galutan said. Now he is wondering why the company wants the open pit back.

“No matuloy nga aramidenda a reservoir ti open pit, maawanan ti panaganan ti adu a mangngusok,” (If the construction of the reservoir pushes through at the open pit site, a lot of miners will lose their source of livelihood) Galutan told the media in a press conference here.

BC plans to relocate the miners at the L070, adjacent to the Antamok pit, but Galutan said it cannot accommodate all of them.

Galutan is also apprehensive that the residential areas above the proposed reservoir will be displaced to protect the water quality for the BWSP. A household survey is yet to be undertaken but Galutan said that the sitios Luneta, Saldine, and Loacan Proper in barangay Loacan; and sitios Tram, Miners’ Side, Cyanide and First Gate in Barangay Ucab will be affected once the bulk water reservoir is started.

Corporate mining operations in the early half of the twentieth century attracted many workers to Itogon. However, aside from the mine-workers who opted to settle in Itogon after the mines closed down, there have always been mining activities by the original inhabitants long before the American prospectors established the corporate mines.

At present, BC requires an entrance fee of P15 per miner daily in its Antamok mines, according to Councilor Michael Tauli. Because its mine sites are no longer viable for large scale production, Tauli said, it allows small scale miners to work at its tunnels.

In Acupan, another mine site in Barangay Virac, also in Itogon, contract miners work the abandoned tunnels for a sharing scheme of 60:40, supposedly in favor of the miners who have to bear production costs. The miners use the company mill for a fee, Tauli said. He said, there is still no exact data to ascertain the number of households depending on small scale mining but he said the underground livelihood source is very active in the municipality. # Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS

Home | Back to top