By Bohol Sunday Post
The two top elective officials of Bohol were reported to have been angered by a raid carried out recently by agents of the local National Bureau of Investigation on a mining site in barangay Katipunan, Anda town.
The mining site was contested by two claimants and according to a report submitted by Police Senior Supt. Edgardo Ingking, provincial director of the Bohol Police Command and co-chair of Task Force Kabukiran, a certain Sofronio Simaco possessed a legitimate permit of the area.
Reports reaching the Post revealed that it was upon the behest of Domingo Chua that the raid was conducted.
Chua was said to have owned the mining claim of Simaco. He is the same Chua who was in the news last year after he was discovered to have possessed almost all of the mining claims in Bohol. In the Anda claim, Chua uses the name Hench Mining Service Development Corp. and this is just one of the mining companies he owns under different dummies.
Subsequent investigation showed that Simaco was said to have fronted for Anda Mayor Paul Amper. The mayor's live-in partner is known as Angelina Simaco and her relation with the mining claimant was not determined in the police report.
As the news of the raid filtered in, it was reported that Gov. Erico Aumentado and V-Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera balked at the idea of NBI agents carrying out the raid without coordination with Task Force Kabukiran whose chairman is the governor himself.
The two officials were irked after they learned that the local NBI was trying to put one over them.
Losing no time, Aumentado and Herrera separately called up the office of NBI Regional Director Medardo de Lemos telling him to discipline his men or else they would work for the abolition of the NBI office in Bohol.
It was also learned that following the NBI operations, Supt.Ingking called a technical conference among members of the task force. The meeting was called to look into circumstances that led to the NBI raid. Among those who attended the meeting were lawyer Ramilo Guinto and Teodoro Saavedra of the NBI, Renato Villaber of the Bohol Environment and Management Office and Rosalina Gaterin of the department of environment and natural resources.
It was in that meeting also that Ingking learned of Simaco's legitimate claim of the Anda mine site.
When asked to explain the raid, the NBI admitted that it was upon the instance of Chua that it was conducted. The NBI also reported during the same meeting that it noticed a discrepancy in the actual site as compared to the permitted extraction site to the permitee based on their ocular inspection. To resolve the issue, the NBI recommended that the extraction site for the permitee (Simacio) be clearly determined.
With the legitimate claim of the permittee ascertained, Ingking recommended that the mining operation of Simacio be allowed to continue unhampered. The mining site is known to have vast deposit of manganese ore.
When sought for his reaction regarding the raid, lawyer Alexander Lim, legal counsel of Chua, said that his client is yet to issue a statement regarding the NBI operations on Chua's claim that he also owns the mining right of the Katipunan mining area..
HERRERA STATEMENT
Meanwhile, in a statement, V-Gov. Herrera said that his reaction to the NBI raid was dedicated to the proposition that he was for the protection of the interest of the province and that of the quarry permit-holder.
The NBI raid resulted in the seizure of extracted manganese ore in Anda without coordination with Task Force Kabukiran. TFK was created to curb indiscriminate illegal logging and quarrying in the province so the environment may be preserved or protected.
The vice-governor in a radio interview last week said that the NBI's action was deplorable against a legitimate permit-holder, adding that the NBI should have coordinated with TFK prior to the raid considering that it is a member of the TFK.
He lamented that NBIs inappropriate action has contributed to the growing public outcry and distrust to the government because of government abuses. In attaining a certain degree of success in whatever government project or activity being undertaken for the people, government agencies should put their acts together, he said.
CROSSFIRE
The provincial government appeared to have been caught in a business feud between two manganese businessmen.
A reliable source said the quarrel began when a Manila-based manganese buyer shifted its attention to buying the mineral deposit in Anda town from Hench Mining Service Development Corp. (HMSDC), which has quarry operations in Candijay.
It was not known what made the buyer change his mind. But the source quoted unconfirmed reports that the shift was triggered after HMSDC was found to have "illegally" mined the manganese site in barangay Panas, Candijay town.
In his letter to Gov. Aumentado, Kagawad Elmer Hinautan of barangay Panas, Candijay town asked the governor to revoke the small scale mining permit issued to HMSDC for illegal extraction of manganese. Similarly, Liga ng mga Barangay federated president Arlene A. Caadlawon, an ex-officio member of the Candijay Sangguniang Bayan, also urged the governor to cancel and stop the mining activity in the town because "no municipal resolution has ever been granted" to the alleged permitee.
Bohol Environment Management Office head Engr. Villaber said in a separate interview said that Aumentado has already halted HMSDC from extracting manganese in Candijay.
It could not be ascertained whether HMSDC had "deputized" the NBI to raid the Anda manganese operations seemingly because of business competition. Herrere said that the NBI should not have been allowed to be used by some vested interest if indeed it was allegedly being "tapped" to raid the mining operations owned by a certain Sofronio Simacio of Anda.
Villaber said that the governor upheld Simacio's extraction because it has legitimate documents to support mine operations. He also said that following the NBI's raid, TFK has released the confiscated cargo trucks and restore Simacio's mine operations.
BLAME GAME
"Blame" is the name of the game between the provincial government and the Cebu-based Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regarding the proliferation of the quarry operations in the province.
It appeared that both were accusing each other regarding the way the issuance of the permit to quarry that led to the unabated illegal extraction activities in the province.
The province and the DENR based here noted that a lot of pre-requisite documents have been processed and issued by the MGB without the knowledge of the former. One of these pre-requisites, DENR Tagbilaran said, is the needed consultation with and favorable endorsement of the locality just like what happened in Candijay.
In its letter to the governor, the MGB asked the provincial government to stop issuing special permits because "it has somehow contributed to the difficulty in the management of mining or quarry activities in the province" unless standard procedures are being followed.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan did not take the issue sitting down and passed on June 2008 a Resolution urging the MGB to stop processing applications for mining operations prior to issuance to permit exclusively by the governor, said board member Alfonso Damalerio II, environment protection committee chairman.
He said that the demand for the MGB to freeze the applications processing was prompted until such time that the Bohol Small-scale Mining Ordinance he proposed is approved by the SP.
The demand is also an answer to the clamor of the local government units where there are quarry operations, Damalerio said.
Meanwhile, the Bohol Small-Scale Mining Ordinance amending the Provincial Ordinance No. 61 of 1993, regulating quarry operations in the province is being deliberated last week during the second reading. (With reports from Ric Obedencio)
The two top elective officials of Bohol were reported to have been angered by a raid carried out recently by agents of the local National Bureau of Investigation on a mining site in barangay Katipunan, Anda town.
The mining site was contested by two claimants and according to a report submitted by Police Senior Supt. Edgardo Ingking, provincial director of the Bohol Police Command and co-chair of Task Force Kabukiran, a certain Sofronio Simaco possessed a legitimate permit of the area.
Reports reaching the Post revealed that it was upon the behest of Domingo Chua that the raid was conducted.
Chua was said to have owned the mining claim of Simaco. He is the same Chua who was in the news last year after he was discovered to have possessed almost all of the mining claims in Bohol. In the Anda claim, Chua uses the name Hench Mining Service Development Corp. and this is just one of the mining companies he owns under different dummies.
Subsequent investigation showed that Simaco was said to have fronted for Anda Mayor Paul Amper. The mayor's live-in partner is known as Angelina Simaco and her relation with the mining claimant was not determined in the police report.
As the news of the raid filtered in, it was reported that Gov. Erico Aumentado and V-Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera balked at the idea of NBI agents carrying out the raid without coordination with Task Force Kabukiran whose chairman is the governor himself.
The two officials were irked after they learned that the local NBI was trying to put one over them.
Losing no time, Aumentado and Herrera separately called up the office of NBI Regional Director Medardo de Lemos telling him to discipline his men or else they would work for the abolition of the NBI office in Bohol.
It was also learned that following the NBI operations, Supt.Ingking called a technical conference among members of the task force. The meeting was called to look into circumstances that led to the NBI raid. Among those who attended the meeting were lawyer Ramilo Guinto and Teodoro Saavedra of the NBI, Renato Villaber of the Bohol Environment and Management Office and Rosalina Gaterin of the department of environment and natural resources.
It was in that meeting also that Ingking learned of Simaco's legitimate claim of the Anda mine site.
When asked to explain the raid, the NBI admitted that it was upon the instance of Chua that it was conducted. The NBI also reported during the same meeting that it noticed a discrepancy in the actual site as compared to the permitted extraction site to the permitee based on their ocular inspection. To resolve the issue, the NBI recommended that the extraction site for the permitee (Simacio) be clearly determined.
With the legitimate claim of the permittee ascertained, Ingking recommended that the mining operation of Simacio be allowed to continue unhampered. The mining site is known to have vast deposit of manganese ore.
When sought for his reaction regarding the raid, lawyer Alexander Lim, legal counsel of Chua, said that his client is yet to issue a statement regarding the NBI operations on Chua's claim that he also owns the mining right of the Katipunan mining area..
HERRERA STATEMENT
Meanwhile, in a statement, V-Gov. Herrera said that his reaction to the NBI raid was dedicated to the proposition that he was for the protection of the interest of the province and that of the quarry permit-holder.
The NBI raid resulted in the seizure of extracted manganese ore in Anda without coordination with Task Force Kabukiran. TFK was created to curb indiscriminate illegal logging and quarrying in the province so the environment may be preserved or protected.
The vice-governor in a radio interview last week said that the NBI's action was deplorable against a legitimate permit-holder, adding that the NBI should have coordinated with TFK prior to the raid considering that it is a member of the TFK.
He lamented that NBIs inappropriate action has contributed to the growing public outcry and distrust to the government because of government abuses. In attaining a certain degree of success in whatever government project or activity being undertaken for the people, government agencies should put their acts together, he said.
CROSSFIRE
The provincial government appeared to have been caught in a business feud between two manganese businessmen.
A reliable source said the quarrel began when a Manila-based manganese buyer shifted its attention to buying the mineral deposit in Anda town from Hench Mining Service Development Corp. (HMSDC), which has quarry operations in Candijay.
It was not known what made the buyer change his mind. But the source quoted unconfirmed reports that the shift was triggered after HMSDC was found to have "illegally" mined the manganese site in barangay Panas, Candijay town.
In his letter to Gov. Aumentado, Kagawad Elmer Hinautan of barangay Panas, Candijay town asked the governor to revoke the small scale mining permit issued to HMSDC for illegal extraction of manganese. Similarly, Liga ng mga Barangay federated president Arlene A. Caadlawon, an ex-officio member of the Candijay Sangguniang Bayan, also urged the governor to cancel and stop the mining activity in the town because "no municipal resolution has ever been granted" to the alleged permitee.
Bohol Environment Management Office head Engr. Villaber said in a separate interview said that Aumentado has already halted HMSDC from extracting manganese in Candijay.
It could not be ascertained whether HMSDC had "deputized" the NBI to raid the Anda manganese operations seemingly because of business competition. Herrere said that the NBI should not have been allowed to be used by some vested interest if indeed it was allegedly being "tapped" to raid the mining operations owned by a certain Sofronio Simacio of Anda.
Villaber said that the governor upheld Simacio's extraction because it has legitimate documents to support mine operations. He also said that following the NBI's raid, TFK has released the confiscated cargo trucks and restore Simacio's mine operations.
BLAME GAME
"Blame" is the name of the game between the provincial government and the Cebu-based Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regarding the proliferation of the quarry operations in the province.
It appeared that both were accusing each other regarding the way the issuance of the permit to quarry that led to the unabated illegal extraction activities in the province.
The province and the DENR based here noted that a lot of pre-requisite documents have been processed and issued by the MGB without the knowledge of the former. One of these pre-requisites, DENR Tagbilaran said, is the needed consultation with and favorable endorsement of the locality just like what happened in Candijay.
In its letter to the governor, the MGB asked the provincial government to stop issuing special permits because "it has somehow contributed to the difficulty in the management of mining or quarry activities in the province" unless standard procedures are being followed.
The Sangguniang Panlalawigan did not take the issue sitting down and passed on June 2008 a Resolution urging the MGB to stop processing applications for mining operations prior to issuance to permit exclusively by the governor, said board member Alfonso Damalerio II, environment protection committee chairman.
He said that the demand for the MGB to freeze the applications processing was prompted until such time that the Bohol Small-scale Mining Ordinance he proposed is approved by the SP.
The demand is also an answer to the clamor of the local government units where there are quarry operations, Damalerio said.
Meanwhile, the Bohol Small-Scale Mining Ordinance amending the Provincial Ordinance No. 61 of 1993, regulating quarry operations in the province is being deliberated last week during the second reading. (With reports from Ric Obedencio)
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