DISASTER
ZAMBONAGA DEL
SUR, MARCH 25, 2012 (PHILSTAR) By Jun Pasaylo (PHOTO -
Bernardo Flores joins the flock of Balabag miners not to search for gold but of
the remains of his son who was buried alive when a tunnel collapse in September
2011.)
Underneath the hollow grounds of Balabag hill, a father joined the flock of
miners not to search for gold but of the remains of his son who was buried alive
when a tunnel collapse in September 2011.
For over six months now, 41-year-old Bernardo Flores hammered through parts
of the solid rock hill in the hope to recover the body of his 21-year-old son
Arbi Flores.
"I don't care if I won't recover him alive. I won't leave this place until I
recover my son," he said in a vernacular during an exclusive interview with
www.philstar.com.
Working as a rodmill operator, the younger Flores was doing his usual duties
late in the afternoon on September 16 when the ground where the plant was
standing collapse, burying almost entire mill and two of its workers.
"We find some mining tools, but no sign of the remains of my son after months
of search and retrieval operations," he said, adding that he and few other
companions started digging for his son immediately after the incident.
"Some of my companions have given up, but I won't stop searching for my son
even if I will only recover his bones," he added.
The story of the Floreses was simply among the few of the families whose
relatives were buried alive when tunnels cave-in, or landslides occurred in the
gold-rich hill of Balabag, a far-flung village of Bayog town here.
'Warik-warik' disasters
On February 2006, five people were killed and another was injured in a
landslide incident in Balabag's Warik-warik area following days of continuous
rains.
In July 2011, two people were killed after a mine hole, operated by a
small-scale miners in Warik-warik area, collapsed with falling boulders
squeezing the victims to their deaths.
Another landslide happened in August 2011 leaving one local miner dead, while
two others were injured. The incident also occurred within the Warik-warik, the
area where most of the small-scale miners in Balabag established mine tunnels
and rodmill plants.
The loosen rocks within the famous Warik-warik mine site have killed or
injured dozens of people over the years.
The older Flores said he has relocated his family to safer grounds when he
sensed that Balabag was already in danger of collapsing anytime.
"I once own a store here in Warik-warik area, but I sold it and bring my
family to safer grounds. Yet my only son chooses to stay with me to help in our
livelihood," he said.
When asked of his plans to leave the area, he said no amount of persuasions
could make him stop from searching for the remains of his son. With his family
of eight, Flores erstwhile survived his family in digging gold ore underneath
the dangerous Balabag hill.
He is convinced that his son wanted to be recovered as the younger Flores has
been repeatedly spoken to him in his dreams.
"I dream of him almost every night. I found him trapped under the collapsed
tunnel but he will always tell me that God has been too good in our lives," he
pointed out.
For his part, Gino Akbayan, who worked as "abanteros" (frontline miner) from
1983 to 2000, said there were fatal landslide and cave-in incidents in the area
but were not reported to the authorities.
He said miners have been shafting and tunneling as far as 100 meters without
any protective gear.
"The situation turns worse when the mine financiers introduced blasting
method sometime in 2002," said Akbayan, who now works for TVI Resource
Development, Philippines (TVIRD).
"We have no choice but to follow the orders of the financiers. In case of
death, the victims would get no benefits from them," he added.
School evacuation
Last February, over 100 pupils and teachers from Miswe Intermediate School in
Balabag were evacuated after the soil, where the school facility was built,
cracked following intensive blasting operations in the ground beneath it.
The shaking of the grounds during blasting raised fears among teachers and
students that the school could collapse anytime due to massive mine excavation,
unsupported underground open spaces, and un-engineered exploration of small
scale miners.
Grade 5 student Mialen Mosqueda recalled living in fears, especially when the
small-scale miners conducted blasting operation within Balabag hill.
"We hear explosions, and the ground will shake. Our teacher told us that it
is because of blasting, but we don't understand what is blasting anyway," she
added.
During explosion, she said their teachers will immediately send them home
fearing a repeat on the incidents in Warik-warik, where many people died," he
added.
"Our hearts run fast during blasting because the ground will shake and the
cracks are getting bigger every day," she added.
But before dynamite blasting could take its toll to the community,
35-year-old Carlos Danong has lost his right palm and few of his left hand
fingers when a blasting piston exploded in his hands.
While he was preparing the explosives in his house, Danong said its
detonating chord was grounded triggering the unanticipated explosion.
"Luckily, I don't have someone with me when the incident happens," he said,
while admitting that he has no proper training in handling explosive devices.
Danong is among the few small-scale mining operators in Balabag that accepted
the settlement proposals of TVIRD.
"As soon as TVIRD will start its operation next year, I will bring my family
to Godod town in Zamboanga del Norte to start a new life there," he added.
Geo-hazard assessment
Since 1995, there were more than 100 active tunnels within the Balabag mine
zone; while over 50 existing mine holes were not operational already.
The seemingly hallow base of Balabag hill endangered the lives of the over
4,000 residents in the area, according to Eng. Jay Elvina, head geologist of
TVIRD Balabag exploration project
"Triggering factors like earthquakes, rains and fault line movements could
collapse the entire mine site," he added.
"If we will mine this area, people must be evacuated. We don't want a repeat
of the Pantukan incident," he added, referring to the January 2012 landslide in
Compostela Valley that killed over 40 people.
He also revealed of the danger the residents face as the country braces for
rainy season in few months time. The excessive use of dynamites in blasting
could also trigger landslide.
"Another factor is the un-engineered method of the small-scale miners in
extracting minerals. They don't care if the tunnel will collapse as long as they
have the gold ore," he added.
As Balabag faces another round of catastrophic crisis in the future, the
surviving Flores vowed never to let go of the search for his son.
Four of his friend, who joined in the search for his son have given up
already.
He created a shanty above the collapsed tunnel where his son was missing,
saying, "So I won't forget that I must need to find him."
Every day since September 16 disaster, the older Flores plunged himself into
the darkness of the tunnel underneath his shanty, hearing nothing but the sound
of hammer and rockhounder.
"I stayed here among the miners, not to look for gold. I have to find the
much better treasure of my life, my only son."
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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