18 Sinos held for black sand mining released to employer

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines – The 18 Chinese nationals held early this month for allegedly engaging in illegal black sand mining in Aparri, Cagayan have been released by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to the custody of their employer.

Eva Antiporda, alien control officer of BI-Aparri district, said the foreigners are now with their company under recognizance, pending the filing of charges against them for illegal mining before the Cagayan prosecutor’s office.

The 18 Chinese were identified as Wang Wendong, Yang Yongliang, Ma Peihua, Zhu Liren, Hou Linlin, Fu Yujun, Xiao Peibao, Li Wenyong, Lu Liming, Jin Dejun, Li Laijie, Wang Cheng, Jiang Bin, Lin Qiang, Xu Jiajun, Jiang Nan, Zheng Feng, and Wang Gonglian.

Antiporda said the foreigners were all documented as far as their entry into the country is concerned. “But if they committed a crime, that’s another story. But as far as we are concerned, they are all documented,” she said.

Antiporda, however, said four of the Chinese have pending applications for working permits while another one has an expired document.

Joint operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) rounded up the 18 Chinese for allegedly conducting black sand mining along Aparri’s coastal villages of Paddaya and Dodang last Aug. 1 and 2.

They were all working for Huaxia Trading and Mining Corp. Inc., which the MGB earlier had ordered to “cease and desist” from extracting black sand or magnetite for operating beyond their permitted area or within the prohibited zone.

The NBI turned them over to the BI-Aparri following the raid for verification of their status but they were released later to the custody of their company.

“We only have limited facilities in our office, that’s why we released them to their employer under recognizance,” Antiporda said.

Black sand or magnetite, a rich resource along Cagayan’s northern coastlines, commands a high price in foreign markets, as it is used as additive in manufacturing concrete and steel products, magnets, paint, ink, paper, jewelry, and cosmetics.

Secretary Manuel Mamba, head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office who was designated as head of the recently created Cagayan Task Force on Black Sand Mining, said there will be no sacred cows in their efforts to end the illegal activities.

The task force, whose members include the NBI, MGB and the police, is under the Office of the President’s Mining Industry Coordinating Council.

With the creation of the task force, Mamba said illegal black sand mining operations in Cagayan, “which are threatening our coastlines and marine resources, not to mention the danger they pose to the fishing communities,” will eventually be eradicated.

“At stake here is not only millions of pesos but billions which only flows into the pockets of those who are abetting the illegal operations to the detriment of the environment and the very lives of our fishing communities,” Mamba said. –Charlie Lagasca (The Philippine Star)