DONYA REMEDIOS TRINIDAD, Bulacan—Residents of this mountain town demanded their jobs back from Environment Secretary Lito Atienza by lifting the suspension order on local iron ore mining here.
Roberto Sembrano, the chair of Barangay Camachin here said that suspension of mining here left around 1,000 families without livelihood for months.
“Maraming kabataan ang hindi nakapag-aral nitong June dahil walang trabaho ang kanilang magulang dahil sa suspension ng mining,” Sembrano said referring to the suspension order issued by the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) last summer.
He said that the suspension was followed by the April 11 take over of the facilities of Ore Asia Mining and Development Corporation (Ore Asia) led by retired Army General Jovito Palparan who was later charged in court along with officials of the Oro Development Corporation 2 (Odeco 2).
Sembrano said that Ore Asia recently secured a mandatory injunction from a local court against Odeco 2 after the issuance of the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) from the same court.
Danny Ong, the project manager of Ore Asia said that mandatory injunction issued by the Municipal Trial Court of San Ildefonso gave them the right to be back in operation.
However, he said that the suspension order of the MGB has prevented them from operating again leaving hundreds of residents still jobless.
“Hindi lang kami ang apektado, pati mga residenteng umaasa sa hanapbuhay sa minahan,” Ong said noting that Ore Asia lost at least P100 million in investments since the cancellation of mining operations last summer.
