By June S. Blanco
Provincial Capitol
Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado may be in the United States for a series of speaking engagements, but he is strictly monitoring the goings-on in the province.
Yesterday, he ordered the filing of charges against the perpetrator who mined manganese from allegedly the Chocolate Hills area in Barangay Montesuerte in Carmen town.
“I cannot condone the act. The Chocolate Hills have been declared geologic monuments and therefore, protected. I purposely revived Task Force Kabukiran to ensure that they remain so,†said the governor who is in Las Vegas, Nevada.
He will keynote the mid-term conference of the Council of Leaders of the Confederation of Boholanos in the United States and Canada (CONBUSAC) headed by Carlos Cagaanan of Lila town.
He will also meet some individual Boholano groups under the umbrella organization in at least two other states.
Shortly before leaving Bohol, Aumentado received a confidential report supported by photographs on the mining operations in Montesuerte.
He immediately instructed Sr. Supt. Edgardo Ingking, Bohol Police Provincial Office (BPPO) director and Forester Nestor Canda, provincial environment and natural resources officer, to investigate the same. Ingking is his task force co-chair.
Environment Secretary Jose Atienza recently named Aumentado as deputy environment and natural resources officer (DENRO). As such, he takes to heart the implementation of environmental, mining and quarrying laws.
Meanwhile, SPO4 Manuel Jamero of the Carmen police led a team to the mining site in Sitio Taun, Montesuerte to investigate the report.
Among others, the police team found a backhoe belonging to the alleged culprit, Alvin Mining, in the area, and 664 sacks of manganese-rich ore although they observed no operation, it being a Sunday.
A short while later, personnel from the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in Talibon town led by Niño Lofranco arrived. He instructed Montesuerte Brgy. Capt. Romano Jaum to tell Alvin Mining to cease operations because it had no permit.
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