Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.
It wasn’t long before Typhoon “Ompong” hit the northern Luzon on the 1st week of September 2018. It was supposed to be my UPCAT D-Day (Saturday) and getting ready for the exam regardless of the strong wind and heavy rainfalls outside and fortunately, it was canceled because of the Super Typhoon “Ompong” coming in PAR that whole week. Then there’s me, feeling lucky that the UPCAT has been move while the other people are getting drowned and suffering from the screeched flood and a destructive landslide, particularly in Itogon, Benguet and Naga, Cebu.
On the northern end of Luzon island in the Philippines is a mountainous region called the Cordillera, known as the vegetable basket of the country, a calamitous landslide buried bunkhouses at the Antamok area, a mining site long declared closed, but still being used for small-scale mining, in Barangay Ucab, Itogon, Benguet. After the incident, the Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu ordered a stop to all small-scale mining operations in Itogon, Benguet which causes the death and entrapment of miners due to landslides in the town caused by Typhoon Ompong. On the other side of the political story, Mayor Palangdan appealed to Cimatu not to stop all the small-scale mining operations since not all areas are as dangerous as the Benguet Corporation area.
The standpoint of the Igorot people and other members of the community in the area said that they will fearlessly fight for their rights and stop the illegal mining. “In these trying times, we must rise against the storm as a people. We must not allow our children and the people to be fed with injustice or clothed with fear…,” -Windel Bolinget, an Igorot leader from the Cordilleras of the Philippines.
A second tremendous landslide happened in Naga, Cebu. Though the typhoon did not reach Cebu, it caused a lot of heavy rainfalls in the central part of Cebu where several mining operations are existing. The death toll in Naga landslide has risen to 64 lives and scores of others remain missing, officials reported. On account of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called for investigations into the dangers of mining.
Some people have blamed mining operations for causing openings on hillsides that may have caused the landslides after heavy rains.
My vantage point in the mining issues that the Philippines is dealing with right now is that there is no one, in particular, is to blame for this problem but us. We started all the ruination and wrecking of the different formations that God has made in this planet Earth. Illegal Mining in mountains are made by the people living in those areas and some government officials are making it an extension of work to gain money from it. Everything is interconnected in the environment.
Every part of Filipino’s life and lifestyle is only made possible through mining that provides essential resources, thus, mining is part of every Filipino’s lives. The only thing that the mining companies have to consider is to be responsible for everything may lead to unwanted consequences like death-dealing landslides. If it happened twice, it will probably happen again.
Sources:
(photos not mine)
Nadine in the Middle 
Impressive..
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