A CITY councilor on Monday stood pat against mining saying there is no such thing as “responsible miners.”
Davao City Councilor Danilo C. Dayanghirang, proponent of the mining ban ordinance in the city and former head of the committee environment said this in relation to the statement of the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau in Davao Region (MGB 11) on Friday that the city can choose companies who practice responsible mining to operate in order to avoid the adverse effects of mining.
It was reported that during the Kapehan sa Abreeza last Friday an official from MGB 11 made a comment on the proposed bill of four congressmen including Davao City third district representative Isidro Ungab that they are not in favor of banning mining activities in city.
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“I read in the internet last night that the mining bureau is against it because there are responsible miners but in mining there is no such responsibility because once you move the earth or once you start getting the resources down below the surface whether you like it or not in a pound of earth movement there is changes of landscape,” Dayanghirang said speaking in Monday’s edition of the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City annex.
Dayanghirang also appealed to the MGB to “respect the separation of power like the city council or LGU.”
He said that one of the duties of the city council is “to make sure that the inhabitants are well protected.”
“Kung meron silang question they better go to court but as far as we are concerned the people does not want it, the power of the government emanates from the people, by us (city council), we are elected. But the sentiments (of the people) shown that they do not want mining why do they (MGB) keep on insisting it, after what happened to Marinduque and to other areas they better go to someone else but as for the city we are against mining copper and others.” he said.
Meanwhile, Dayanghirang said that he will continue to pursue his ordinance against mining, especially, copper and gold.
He said that he did not include sand, gravel and limestone in the ban because this is a source of living of some people and there is also an existing environmental law regulating it.
“So therefore as far as the city is concerned as long as they have the environmental certificate clearance they can operate, why the council did not include (in the ban) the sand and gravel personally, I feel that the exclusion of sand and gravel this time is not yet necessary meaning because it does not cause danger to the lives of our people, second, it is a source of income to the lives of people here in Davao, the problem here if we will include sand and gravel the prices of construction materials including the cost of construction will go up because we will be getting gravel somewhere in Panabo and Tagum,” Dayanghirang said.
Moreover, Dayanghirang also appealed to Leonardo R. Avila III who is the current head of the committee on environment to include his mining ban ordinance, which was already approved on the second reading, to the agenda which was removed due to the reorganization done in the City Council.
