QUEZON CITY, 28 September– Small-Scale Mining communities from all over the country convened as they tackled small-scale mining issues at the 5th National Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) Summit on September 26-28, 2018 at Sulô Riviera Hotel, Matalino Street, Quezon City.

BAN Toxics, a lead-collaborator environmental agency who has been working with the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector, organized the event with support from the U.S Departmentof Labor (US DOL) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) under the CARING Gold Mining Project as well as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (EITI)-Project CLEAR. DENR Assistant Secretary for Mining Concerns served as the keynote speaker of the event.

This year’s theme is “GINTO: Sa Bawat Butil, Kapakanan ng Sambayanan”.

Ms. Sarah Marie Aviado, BAN Toxics Development Programme Manager explained “Higit sa hanap-buhay ng sektor ng maliitang pagmimina, ay ang pagpapahalaga natin sa buhay ng mga minero at ng pamayanan kaya natin idadaos ang okasyong ito.” She then elaborated “BAN Toxics has always recognized the importance of knowledge-sharing with peers from other small-scale mining communities. It is why we organized the National ASGM Summit—to share best practices among the sector. The small-scale mining sector is already challenged as it is because of its informality. With the help of relevant government agencies, emerging issues can be potentially
addressed.”

The 5th National ASGM Summit highlighted occupational safety and health in the small-scale mining sector specifically the elimination of child labor and mercury use. It also shed light on the issues surrounding the ASGM sector due to the recent landslide tragedy in Itogon, Benguet that claimed at least 70 lives.

The participants headed by the Philippine National Coalition for Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Officers strongly called for the government’s aid to legalize their sector foremostly to prevent the reoccurrence of such tragedies.

“Allow me to acknowledge the small-scale miner associations who lobby for the legalization of their operations. Despite the tedious Minahang Bayan application process, let me applaud you and encourage you to stay persistent of your efforts. Please continue to strive for legalizing your livelihood and conduct mining operations that uphold environmental policies. Our office, in turn, will do our part to fast-track issuance of Minahang Bayan permits,” said Asec Caguioa to the participants.

The officers also took the opportunity of the Keynote Speaker’s presence and requested her to facilitate their oathtaking in which she obliged.


The Philippine National Coalition for Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Officers took their oath as facilitated by DENR Assistant Secretary for Mining Concerns Ms. Nonita Caguioa.

Moreover, the event served as the venue to review the outputs from the previous activities under Project CLEAR and steps to move forward.

BAN Toxics and ILO also launched the ASGM Baseline Study and Gold Supply Chain, one of the main output of the CARING Gold Mining Project during the event.

“Lubos po kaming nagpapasalamat sa mga dumalo at sumuporta sa pagdiriwang na ito. Isang malaking tagumpay ang maipakita na ang pagmimina ay higit sa kabuhayan. Itinataguyod nito ang kapakanan ng sambayanan lalo na ang komunidad ng maliitang pagmimina,” said Ms. Aviado.

 

Dawn Po Quimque
BAN Toxics
Communications Officer
dawn@bantoxics.org
0917 358 4589