Senate urged to probe financiers of Compostela Valley mines
By Edith Regalado, The Philippine Star
January 13, 2012

 DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Senate has been urged to conduct an investigation on the financiers of small-scale mining operations following the deadly landslide in Pantukan, Compostela Valley.

Compostela Valley Gov. Arthur Uy also ordered the creation of a fact-finding team that would look into the involvement of local officials in the mining activities in Pantukan.

“There were reports that reached my office regarding local officials in Pantukan who themselves own tunnels in the mining site,Uy said.

Uy said the fact-finding team would identify the financiers of the small-scale mining activities in Pantukan.

He said the local government in Pantukan failed to implement a “no-habitation” policy that should have been implemented months before the Jan. 5 landslide occurred.

Sen. Loren Legarda took note of the claims by Uy, who said there is a local ordinance prohibiting dwelling in Barangay Napnapan, particularly in the area where a landslide happened in April 2011.

Uy stressed the local ordinance was already issued before the Jan. 5 landslide even as the Department of the Interior and Local Government ordered a “no-habitation” policy in areas in Pantukan identified as landslide-prone.

Legarda filed Senate Resolution No. 675, stressing specific areas in Pantukan, including Barangay Napnapan where the Jan. 5, 2012 and the April 2011 landslides occurred, have been identified as landslide-prone and the mountain region could collapse from high pressure or big movements, thereby not suitable for habitation and mining activities.

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