THE Writ of Kalikasan issued in 2013 to protect the Iponan River from illegal mining was not able to prevent turning the fragile ecosystem into an environmental wasteland.
Director Felizardo Gacad, Jr., head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Mines and Geosciences Bureau-10 said an estimated ten hectares of the river delta was destroyed by the illegal mining operated by mainland Chinese nationals.
“We are evaluating the damage to the river system because we believed it is much bigger than we earlier thought,” Gacad said in a press conference on Tuesday.
A joint operation by the DENR personnel, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents, and Army elite Special Forces arrested five Chinese nationals and 13 Filipino laborers in Barangay Pigsag-an, Cagayan de Oro last Saturday dawn.
The raiders found a bottle of mercury among the tents used by the miners raising the specter of deadly contamination in the Iponan River. Mercury is considered fatal to humans especially if they are exposed to the heavy metal.
Gacad said the wasteland of 10.3 hectares borders barangays Cauyonan and Nangcaon in Opol town, Misamis Oriental.
“We based our estimates of the disturbed area on Google Earth satellite imagery,” Gacad said.
Engr. Armen Cuenca, chief of the Cagayan de Oro Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) said their office has monitored at least ten excavators mining for gold along the Iponan River in Opol town.
Cuenca said their office furnished the DENR-MGB regional office with their April 2023 report of the illegal gold mining operations along the Iponan River.
“We think there are at least ten illegal mining operations in the river but we cannot arrest them because it is in the Opol area,” Cuenca said.
The Clenro is one of the ten government agencies ordered by the Court of Appeals in 2013 to protect the Iponan River, which was environmentally threatened by illegal mining operations.
The Court of Appeals issued the Writ of Kalikasan and a Writ of Continuing Mandamus in 2013 following an appeal by Sulog, an environmental coalition, to protect the fragile river system.
The Writ ordered the DENR, NBI, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Immigration; and the local government units of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and Opol to coordinate their efforts to protect Iponan River.
A task force called “Kinaiyahan” was formed in 2013 to coordinate the efforts of these agencies who are also mandated to submit monthly reports of the situation along the river.
Former Clenro Chief Edwin Dael, who headed Task Force “Kinaiyahan” until 2017, said he doesn’t know if the agencies continued to submit their reports after his stint as task force coordinator.
A Writ of Kalikasan is a legal relief that provides for the protection of one’s right to “a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature,” as enshrined in Section 16, Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It is the environmental counterpart of the Writ of Amparo.
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