Cagayan Valley groups push mining ban.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya-Environmental groups in Cagayan valley have urged government officials to impose a moratorium on mining in Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino, pending the resolution of legal issues on some provisions of the Mining Act of 1995 before the Supreme Court.

In a resolution, 54 representatives from various government agencies and non-government and people's organizations in the region said mining activities in the forests of the two provinces would upset the region's ecological balance and its economy.

"Cagayan Valley's economy is based on agriculture of which its sustainable development and productivity is totally dependent on the Cagayan River systems and its watersheds particularly ... (those) within Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya," the resolution read.

The resolution was approved during the third annual stakeholders' conference of the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor (SMBC) on Oct. 22 in Santiago City.

Participants included officials from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, local governments in the five provinces of Cagayan Valley, and representatives of provincial federations of people's organizations.

Jerrysal Mangaoang, regional Mines and Geosciences Bureau director, said while he had yet to see a copy of the resolution, he doubted the legality of any mining moratorium that might be imposed.