Another Mining Site in Town

The new week dashed in quietly. No big bangs or sorts of things. Although we learned some alarming news today (or rather yesterday evening). A mining operation that our neighboring county (2 counties before us) had been opposing strongly for years received a "YES" vote to go forward. That explained the curfew announcement we saw along the way on Saturday. "Curfew time from 9 pm to 4 am," it said. I was wondering what it was for because there was no additional information, but now we know.

Accordingly, the nine local government units of the town voted, and the result was 4 NO and 5 YES. Crazy, huh! What were those 5 LGUs thinking? Although we believe the numbers don't really represent the sentiments of the majority of the population. We don't even know if there was a public consultation for it, because we have not heard of any since we came here in July last year.

The other night, some residents who were coming home after 9 pm were allowed entry, but they had to leave their vehicles outside the checkpoint area. Why? It's protocol or safety procedures, accordingly. Not sure. We only heard some rumors, not first-hand information.

While we are not privy to where exactly the operation will take place, it scares me to think what might become of our neighboring place and our peaceful lil DD if the works go full swing. Will the greater community benefit from such an industry, or only a few? We shall see about that.

Sure, mining has certain advantages, but its negative impact outweighs them. Degradation of the mountainside, soil erosion, the biodiversity would be disturbed, environmental hazards, air and water pollution, and what else? I just hope there won't be residents who will be displaced because of it. Even so, there are still safety concerns, and the lasting impact that the activities will cause.

It's quite upsetting, to be honest, but we will try to be more vigilant from now on to learn more about it, so we will know what to expect and what to do with our future plans in this place.