14 miners arrested in Benguet

ITOGON, Benguet — Fourteen alleged small-scale miners were arrested by a composite team of police and concerned government agencies after being caught red-handed allegedly conducting illegal mining operations on Nuggets Hill in Barangay Ampucao, here, Thursday.

Concerned residents were responsible for tipping off the activities of the 14 suspects which causes instability of the soil foundation in the place.

Seized from the arrested were 11 sacks of gold ore weighing approximately 400 kilos, two shovels; two sample pans; two sledge hammers; a miner’s lamp; and one improvised rubber ring with handle.

The arrested illegal pocket miners are now detained at the Benguet provincial jail pending the disposition of the provincial prosecutor’s office on the charges of illegal mining.

-By DEXTER A. SEE, Manila Bulletin

Itogon ready for Freedom climb

CLIMBERS for the upcoming Freedom Climb 2011 are set to get a new taste of adventure with Mount Ugo in Itogon town will be among the venue for the June 12 record breaker attempt.

Itogon municipal tourism action officer Liza Diase said the influx of climbers during the climb will also be a big boost to the town’s eco tourism destination. “We are also waiting for the confirmation for the Mount Bidawan in Poblacion, Itogon which is also one of the mountains in the municipality that is being improved and eyed as an alternative trek by mountain climbers and other enthusiasts,” said Diase.

Diase said that their endeavor of joining the Freedom Climb and volunteering their mountains as venue is to help in the National Greening Program(NGP) of the government. The NGP being undertaken by the Aquino Administration aims to plant 1.5 million trees around the country. The simultaneously climbing of more than 100 mountains in the country is set to break the 10 year record currently being held by the United Kingdom and Ireland way back on Sept. 10, 2000, with 600 people scaling 112 mountains

simultaneously.

Local government units and other private groups are hoping that several mountains will be the venue of the. The organizers are eyeing at least 500 trekkers for Mount Santo Tomas here in Baguio and another 500 for Mt. Pulag so that the impact on the environment would not be that much. Aside from the idea of climbing mountains nationwide, the event aims to promote environmental awareness, conservation, preservation and protection. This is also to campaign advocacies for responsible sportsmanship, synergism among individuals and groups, and to unite the mountaineering community to achieve greater good.

Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on June 10, 2011.-Roderick Osis