Illegal mining activities in Balabag mountain in Zamboanga del Sur’s Bayog town. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
ZAMBOANGA CITY (Al Jacinto / July 27, 2012) – An illegal gold miner, who was trying to smuggle hazardous chemicals and fuel inside an area where the mining firm TVI Resource Development Inc. operates, was shot dead by a security guard after he was attacked and mauled by a gang of mine workers in Zamboanga del Sur province in Mindanao.
Two other illegal miners were also wounded after a fire fight broke out between the attackers and security guards of the mining firm in Balabag mountain in Bayog town on Wednesday evening.
“We are investigating the incident. There were witnesses who said that a fire fight broke out between the group of miners and security guards of the mining firm,” Inspector Errol Alejo, the town’s police chief, told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said they filed homicide charges against the security guard Godofredo Jungoy, Jr. who surrendered to the police after he shot Wilbert Catampungan.
Jungoy, accompanied by his lawyer, told police that he was trying to stop a group of illegal miners, who were smuggling illegal chemicals within the area of TVIRD in Balabag where the company has a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) with the government.
MPSA is an agreement between TVIRD and the Philippine government wherein the firm is granted exclusive right to conduct mining operations within Balabag.
The illegal miners, who are members of the Monte de Oro Small Scale Miners Association, were sneaking under cover of darkness bags of cyanide, activated carbon, and diesel fuel to use in their outlawed gold processing plants in Balabag.
A regional army commander, Brig. Gen. Ricardo Rainier Cruz III, in a surprising statement, said the shooter is a member of dreaded pseudo-organization organized and employed by the multi-awarded mining firm.
“A certain Godofredo Jungoy, Jr. , a member of a pseudo-organization dreadedly known among miners in Balabag area as K9, organized and employed by TVIRD to execute dirty works in favour of its master TVIRD, shot in cold-blood a lowly small scale miner, who was with a group of 50 laborers, when the victim refused to surrender his container of diesel fuel to the gang of K9 who are confiscating all kind of fuel transported usually by labourers to Balabag area.”
“The victim, Wilbert Catampungan, was shot in the chest and was brought to Bayog Medical Clinic, but pronounced dead on arrival, while the rest of the labourers scampered for safety. The assailant is now detained at the Bayog municipal police station,” Cruz said in a statement sent to journalists.
Cruz has earlier this year pulled out a group of pro-government militias guarding TVIRD’s operation in Balabag despite repeated threats of communist rebel attacks.
TVIRD said it would not condone any form of violence and condoled with the family of Catampungan. It said the company is extending all necessary financial and other assistance to the Catampungan’s family.
“TVIRD never condones any form of violence. The matter is now in the hands of the police, local government, and other authorities as we await their final reports,” it said in a statement.
TVIRD, quoting an official police report, said that the group of illegal miners attacked its security personnel, resulting in the incident.
“Jungoy related to the police that he was attacked and mauled when he tried to stop the group. He fired a warning shot but the group ignored it and continued their attack. Sensing serious danger to his life, Jungoy fired another shot that unfortunately hit one of his attackers,” the mining firm said.
TVIRD, together with local government and police authorities, have found it necessary to set up security checkpoints and patrols due to the dangerous operations perpetrated by illegal miners in MPSA area of Balabag.
The Zamboanga del Sur provincial government and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have previously ordered a stop to all hazardous and illegal mining operations in Balabag, especially those involving the Monte de Oro Small Scale Miners Association.
But the unabated illegal mining activities still continue. Just this month, the Provincial Mineral Regulatory Board also issued a resolution denying an application to mine by Monte de Oro Small Scale Miners Association to have the area in Balabag where they operate.
Illegal miners have been operating in Balabag for more than a decade now and were largely blamed for the destruction of the mountain and environmental pollution in the town. (Mindanao Examiner)
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