This goes to show, Bolinget reiterated, “that the very nature of large and corporate mining is dangerous and unsafe.”
“There will always be environmental and social disasters in areas of large mining operations,” he said.
“Probe Itogon disasters”
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), Commission on Human Rights (CHR), and the municipal and provincial governments are being sought to look into the interest and welfare of the Itogon community—both those directly and indirectly affected.
Bolinget said the Benguet provincial government “must decisively act to put a stop to such disasters, for environmental protection and socio-cultural preservation by placing a ban or moratorium to large-scale mining operations in the province.”
Otherwise, he said, “there will soon be no Benguet province to speak of in the future—only a wasteland of mine waste and abandoned communities.” (Bulatlat)
