Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said the revocation of mining permits was made “to prevent further danger” to the lives of small-scale miners. “At present, there are existing applications for minahang bayan (mining area for small-scale miners) in some areas of the region. While we await the approval and proclamation of these applications, we ask our small-scale miners to cooperate and stop all small-scale mining activities here,” the DENR chief said. During the press briefing, Itogon Mayor Victor Palangdan said a technical conference should be conducted first before shutting down small-scale mining. Fay Apil, Mines and Geosciences Bureau director for CAR, said 10 mining associations were given temporary small-scale mining contracts.

Source: Philippine Star September 17, 2018 15:56 UTC