JORDAN, Guimaras – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources yesterday said it will consider the opposition of officials and residents of Guimaras in evaluating applications for mining exploration on the island.

DENR Regional Executive Director, Lormelyn Claudio, said the strong stance of Guimaras officials will be a factor in the approval or disapproval of at least four applications for mining activities on the 60,000-hectare island.

“If the local government is against it, we have to consider that,” Claudio said in a press conference here at the launching of the Guimaras Integrated Coastal Management Program.

Claudio said the opposition to mining in the province has also been upheld by the Regional Development Council of Western Visayas.

Under present rules, mining applications do not need approval or endorsement of the local government units.

The province, still recovering from a massive oil spill that ravaged the island in 2006, has stepped up its campaign against mining applications.

Guimaras Gov. Felipe Nava said in the same press conference that an information campaign on the effects of mining has started in villages of the province's five municipalities.

The provincial government earlier displayed stickers and banners emblazoned with “Spare Guimaras” to highlight their call against mining on the island.

Nava said that pending applications for mining cover around 65 percent of the province including watershed areas.

The 1,143-hectare Taklong Island National Marine Reserve (Tinmar) is also part of the area covered by the applications. The marine reserve is located in Nueva Valencia, the hardest hit of the province's five towns.

“We ask government to spare us. Guimaras is a small province and mining would destroy us,” Nava said.

The province's efforts to protect its environment and recover from the damage of the oil spill got a boost yesterday with the launching of its Integrated Coastal Management program yesterday.

Nava signed a memorandum of agreement with officials of the DENR and Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (Pemsea) headed by its chair Dr. Chua Thia-Eng and former Energy secretary Raphael Lotilla, Pemsea resource facility executive director.

The ICM program seeks to achieve sustainable development through the effective management of its coastal and other resources with the help of Pemsea.

Guimaras is only the fourth local government unit in the country accepted by the Pemsea after the provinces of Batangas, Cavite and Bataan.

The regional network, composed of government and private organizations, seeks to advance sustainable development of coastal lands and waters in at least 20 percent of the region's coastline by 2015 through ICM integration.

Lotilla said the major elements that would make the ICM program realizable are present in Guimaras including experience in inter-agency collaboration and coordination and political will to implement changes in structures and mindset in the conservation of resource.

He said the oil spill has given the province the experience to address complex issues in with the help of both the government and private organizations.

Chua said the ICM approach would help address various issues in a holistic way and would develop preparedness especially in responding to disasters.

“If we are not careful, we will exhaust our local resource,” Chua said in the press conference.*NPB

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