16 months in transition

Mining revenues jump

from P11.9M to 52.9M

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Feb 21 (PIA)—Barangays are at the frontlines in monitoring mining activities, as per the Local Government Code of 1991, and as such, that responsibility comes with great payback.

For their efforts in monitoring the small scale mining activities that are happening under their jurisdictions based on the LGC of 1991, barangay shares in mining revenues leapt 444 percent in the last 16 months and first 16 months of administration changes in the Capitol.

Since the effectivity of the Provincial Ordinance No 2020-035 or the Revised Bohol Mining Ordinance, from P11.9 million revenues in the last 16 months of the past administration in 2021 and 2022, the figure zoomed to P52.9 million in the same length of time in the remaining quarter of 2022 to 2023, under the administration of Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado.

In 2021, or after the Ordinance took effect, revenues reached 8 million, while the first half of the year registered P3.9 million or a total of 11.9 million in 16 months.

In the next half of 2022, or after the elections, under Aumentado, Bohol collected P12.8 million while in 2023, the total annual mining revenue reached P40.1 million; P52.9 million in the first 16 months of the new administration.

While people credit the additional cash inflow for barangays and towns representing their shares in the mining revenues to the systems implemented in the collection, the elimination of red tape and corruption, much of the hard work actually comes from barangays which have now been actively doing their shares, thus getting the bigger priority development funds.

In 2024, the revenues collected from an average of 50 small scale mining permittees reached P48.847 million, reports Malig-on.

According to Section 36 of the Revised Bohol Mining Ordinance (RBMO), as mining permit holders pay extraction fees, the for the sand, gravel, quarry resources and other minerals are extracted, the barangay as monitors making sure there is no over extraction of the resources gets 40 percent share of the proceeds, reminds Bohol Environment Protection Task Force (BEPTF) head, retired army official Eduardo Malig-on.

The RBMO, or Provincial Ordinance No 2020-035, provides stringent regulations for the issuances of small scale mining permits, quarry, sand and gravel, and other mineral extraction permits while establishing the mechanisms for their issuances and imposing taxes on the extracted materials as well as providing for administrative fines and penalties.

Guesting the Kapihan sa PIA which tackled environment protection in Bohol as a strategic development policy direction. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Malig-on added that in the sharing of the proceeds, the municipality where these quarry resources are extracted gets 30 percent, while the provincial government also gets another 30 percent.

For the municipal governments, the RBMO mandates that the governor designates municipal deputies tasked as additional level of security for a protected and regulated resources use, in cases when the barangays are incapable of putting a system of monitoring as provided in the implementation of the ordinance.

On the other hand, the provincial government, as to the provision of the ordinance, forms the BEPTF, Malig-on explained.

Stressing the importance of protecting the environment, especially that Bohol has been enlisted in the UNESCO list of global geoparks, something that can be stricken out when the UNESCO sees Bohol unable to maintain and manage the sustainability of the sites, the BEPTF takes the responsibility assigned to them by the ordinance and the call to be a Boholano as biased for the environment.

And the Ordinance paid off, the retired army official said.

In 2023, with the coordinated action of barangays, municipal governments and the BEPTF, Bohol collected some P40.1 million, something that surprised the barangays which have been getting a pittance of the shares in the small scale mining activities all over Bohol. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)