VIRAL: Photos of devastation caused by mining draw attention of netizens

Images of the devastation of an islet in Claver, Surigao del Norte and Carrascal, Surigao del Sur have been going viral on social media. Claver is the largest municipality in Surigao del Norte. A large part of the municipal land is a mining reservation because of its large iron mineral deposits.

The Facebook Page Save Surigao has been posting images of devastation of the two municipalities. The aerial photograph of one of Claver’s islets immediately went viral as soon as it was posted last March 16, 2016. As of this writing, the photo already had over 3,000 reactions, which were mostly negative, and it has been shared over 5,000 times on Facebook.

The photo was captioned: “‘An islet that was once bordered with white sand is now covered with orange silt from the large scale mining sites in Claver, Surigao del Norte.” Photo courtesy of ERWIN MASCARIÑAS for MIILS ‪#‎SaveSurigao‬”

Several images were also posted on the Facebook page showing ships and trucks that collect raw mining materials and orange silt which now covered once pristine land.

Claver is famous for its white sand beaches. However, a large part of these white sand beaches have turned into orange due to silt resulting from the mining in the municipality.

Carrascal, Surigao del Sur, which is situated next to Claver, is a fourth class municipality. Carrascal’s lands have also been devastated due to aggressive nickel mining. Carrascal’s incumbent Mayor is Vicente “BB” Pimentel, Jr.

As of this writing, the incumbent governor of Surigao del Norte is Sol Matugas under the Liberal Party and the incumbent Mayor of Claver is Eddie Patan Gokiangkee.