KORONADAL CITY — Two more lives were lost on August 11 in Sitio Campo Kilot, Barangay Pulabato, Tampakan, South Cotabato, after a deadly collapse during illegal “banlas” operations, a destructive small-scale mining method that uses high-pressure water to strip minerals from the soil.
This is not an isolated case. Just weeks earlier, on July 27, another fatality was recorded in the same sitio. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-XII) has since moved to dismantle makeshift shanties and ₱200,000 worth of polyethylene hoses used to divert water into unstable mining pits. A composite investigation team has been deployed, with DENR, local government units, police, and even representatives of Sagittarius Mines, Inc. joining in the probe.
The findings are as clear as they are grim: unregulated mining destroys landscapes and kills people. The unstable terrain, reckless excavation, and improvised equipment combined into a lethal trap for the very individuals who sought to wrest a livelihood from it.
DENR-12 Regional Executive Director Atty. Felix Alicer rightly reminded the public that such practices not only devastate the environment but also pose severe risks to human life. The department has promised tougher monitoring and legal action.
But here is the uncomfortable truth: if small, clandestine mining already claims lives and scars the land, what will happen once full-scale commercial open-pit mining arrives in Tampakan?
The tragedy in Pulabato is more than just another case file for regulators — it is a warning. It exposes what happens when mountains are carved without regard for stability, when rivers are siphoned without restraint, and when profit outweighs precaution. If this is the price of small-scale operations, the cost of industrial-scale extraction could be unimaginable.
South Cotabato, and indeed the nation, must reflect. How many more lives, rivers, and mountains must be lost before we realize that not all that glitters in the soil is worth digging up?
This is not merely an accident. It is a wake-up call.