Exploration personnel assist in the evacuation of residents, distribution of relief goods
A large fire swept through a small-scale mining community last Saturday (June 17) at Barangay Depore in Bayog town, Zamboanga del Sur, gutting down some 25 establishments, including a school building, a Catholic chapel, as well as houses and equipment of small-scale miners. There were no reported casualties.Top management of TVI Resource Development Phils., Inc. (TVIRD), which is conducting exploration activities some 150 meters away from the Tinago small-scale mining village in Sitio Balabag, immediately allocated P100,000 for the purchase of rice, food items, as well as construction materials that will be used to build temporary shelter for affected families. The company’s drilling equipment were not damaged by the fire.
According to Wilmar Ladia, TVIRD Balabag Project officer-in-charge, the fire reportedly started from the house of a certain Edlorendo Monarca, a small-scale miner, at around 9:00 a.m. and immediately spread to neighboring houses.
Carl Caumartin and Luisito Sangalang, Jr., TVIRD vice president and manager for Exploration, respectively, immediately ordered most of the company’s workers to proceed to the area to assist the victims. When TVIRD personnel arrived at the site, however, the fire was already uncontrollable and rapidly spreading, so all they could do was assist in the evacuation of residents. Several warning shots were fired into the air by TVIRD security escorts to prevent residents from going back to, or getting near, their burning houses.
The blaze, which lasted for nearly two hours, completely burned down at least 22 houses, including 10 rod mills used to process ore to extract metals. Also destroyed was the Monte de Oro Small-Scale Mining Association office.
TVIRD Community Relations personnel are coordinating with municipal officials for the distribution of relief goods and to determine how else the company can be of help to the victims. For its immediate relief operations, the company distributed all its available stocks of rice and assorted groceries on site to affected families.
Last February, TVI security personnel also led search and rescue efforts for victims of a landslide in the same community. Continuous heavy rains triggered a mudslide that buried two houses, washed out three others, and destroyed five rod mills used by the small-scale miners.
Some 20 Special CAFGU Active Auxiliary (SCAA) elements assigned to secure TVIRD’s exploration activities at Sitio Balabag, backed by Army personnel, dug up four bodies from underneath the pile of earth. They are all part of the approximately 3,000-strong illegal small-scale miners and their families in the area.
