Cagayan de Oro City — The Police Northern Mindanao Office continued its campaign against illegal mining over the weekend, confiscating P112,000 worth of mineral ores in two separate operations in Manticao, Misamis Oriental.

Personnel from the Manticao Municipal Police Station were monitoring illegal mining in the mountainous area of Barangay Upper Malubog when they discovered 44 sacks of mineral ores believed to be sourced from Barangay Limonda, Opol, Misamis Oriental.

During the first operation in Upper Malubog’s Barangay 5, police recovered 20 sacks valued at P50,000, while the second operation in Barangay 4 yielded 24 sacks valued at P62,000. The sacks were found abandoned at the site.

The confiscated ores have been brought to the Manticao Police Station for documentation and will be turned over to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Cagayan de Oro City for verification and disposition.

The weekend seizure follows a major raid earlier this month in Barangay Limonda, Opol, where over 627 sacks of mineral ore, amounting to P918,750 were seized. Police Maj. Teodoro Panganiban, chief of the Opol Municipal Police Station, said that operation was launched after a tip that illegal miners were about to transport the material for processing.

The MGB Region 10 had previously deployed drones to track illegal mining along the boundary of Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro City, exposing large-scale operations. A joint raid in August involving MGB, the Environmental Management Bureau, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine Army resulted in the arrest of one individual and the seizure of heavy equipment along the Iponan River system.

Authorities arrested an operator of a hydraulic excavator who was engaged in the unauthorized extraction of sand, gravel and other materials. Intelligence reports suggest a sitting village official may be the suspected operator behind the illegal activities.