‘Small scale mining in
south alarming’
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

KABANKALAN CITY - The Provincial Environment Management Office and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau are alarmed by small scale mining operations at the boundary of Sipalay City and Hinobaan, Negros Occidental, using hazardous and toxic chemicals for gold extraction, Eriberto Madalag, PEMO Regulatory Services Division officer-in-charge, said yesterday.

Worse, the toxic waste is being dumped into a creek, which connects to the Bacuyangan River of Hinobaan, Madalag said at a meeting here of members of the Joint Peace and Security Coordinating Center.

The limited technical skills of small-scale miners in using hazardous chemicals, not only endangers their health, but also affects the environment, Madalag said.

The six congressmen of Negros Occidental are set to meet in Manila on August 29 to decide whom the United Negros Alliance will field for governor in 2013, party sources said yesterday.

Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco, founder of UNA, is also expected at the meeting.

The STAR sources said they could not confirm if Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez Jr. will be at the meeting.

One of the teachers in the recent robbery-hold-up at a school in Moises Padilla town, Negros Occidental, is seeking a transfer for security reasons, town police chief Senior Inspector Robert Mansueto said.

Mansueto said the teacher, whose identity he has withheld, had been targeted by the two suspects, before the incident.

He, however, said the six other teachers are still willing to go back to their assignments at the Coyaoyao Elementary School in Brgy. Inolingan, in the town.