2 days ago
6
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
The floods inundated communities in 18 towns and cities in Negros Occidental, affecting 31,455 residents and resulting in four deaths
NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – Environmental groups blamed widespread deforestation, mining, and quarrying for the four days of flooding that inundated many communities in southern Negros Occidental from July 17 to 20, displacing thousands and killing four.
The floods hit 18 towns and cities in the province’s 4th, 5th, and 6th districts, affecting 31,455 residents, with 22,652 of them forced into evacuation centers, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) said.
The fatalities, all of whom drowned, included two from Binalbagan, and one each from Himamaylan and Sagay.
RAMPAGING WATERS. A dam overflows in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental on Friday, July 18, 2025. Sipalay CDRRMOAt least 6,000 hectares of newly planted rice fields in Bago City, Valladolid, and San Enrique were destroyed, affecting an estimated 12,000 farmers from the Federation of Irrigators’ Association of Central Negros-Bago Irrigation System (FIACN-BRIS).
The affected areas based on local government data as of Sunday, July 21, were the following:
- Bago City
- La Carlota City
- Pontevedra
- Pulupandan
- San Enrique
- Valladolid
- Himamaylan City
- Binalbagan
- Hinigaran
- Isabela
- La Castellana
- Moises Padilla
- Kabankalan City
- Sipalay City
- Candoni
- Cauayan
- Hinoba-an
- Ilog
“We are definitely asking for help from the government. We need to start planting again,” said FIACN-BRIS president Pedro Limpangog.
The Department of Agriculture-Negros Island Region (DA-NIR) has yet to release a consolidated report on the full extent of the agricultural damage, although partial figures are being gathered through its real-time Management Information System (MIS), DA Regional Director Albert Barrogo said.
Environmental advocates said the destruction caused by flooding showed the long-term consequences of deforestation, unchecked mining and quarrying activities.
“The overall flooding scenario in the south of the province was mainly attributed to developmental aggression,” said Randy James Rojo, co-founder of the Group of Environmental Socialists (GOES).
RESCUE. Workers rescue a person with disability using heavy equipment in Moises Padilla town, Negros Occidental. Moises Padilla PIO
Data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Region VI show extensive exploration and mining operations in the southern parts of the province. While most have expired exploration permits, at least two still have permits to operate until 2030 and 2035.
The companies include the following:
- Philex Gold Philippines Incorporated, covering 2,268 hectares in Sipalay and Hinoba-an (1997-2022)
- Vulcan Industrial Mining, with separate tenements in Hinoba-an, Candoni, and Sipalay totaling over 1,200 hectares (1997-2023)
- Maricalum Mining Corporation, operating across 2,783.85 hectares in Cauayan and Sipalay (1998-2023)
- Selenga Mining Corp., exploring over 2,965 hectares in Candoni and Sipalay (2005-2030)
- San Dominico Minerals and Industrial Corporation, holding 842 hectares in Kabankalan (2010–2035)
Large-scale sand and gravel quarry operations are also concentrated in Bago City, with smaller quarry activities reported in Binalbagan, Himamaylan, Isabela, Kabankalan, and La Castellana. These smaller permits are issued by the Provincial Environment and Management Office (PEMO).
“We are now seeing the consequences after all these mining and river quarries formed part of human abuses to our environment,” Rojo said.
Rusty Biñas, founder of the Green Alert Network (GAN) in Asia Pacific, warned that open-pit mining destroys vegetation vital for absorbing and regulating water flow.
“There is a greater possibility that open-pit mining opens the vegetation to desertification, which compromises soil and water conservation,” Biñas said. “Vegetation is like a sponge that becomes a water reservoir. Now that vegetation is less or gone because of mining, definitely water will go down and contribute to flooding.”
Edwin Balajadia, area manager of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), urged a strategic review of the province’s climate and disaster risk reduction (CDRR) plans with active civil society participation.
“The loopholes and gaps in terms of risk and hazards management – especially forest denudation, big quarrying in rivers and coastal areas, inadequate and clogged drainage systems, solid waste issues, and lack of funding for CDRR – must be resolved,” he said.
Negros Occidental Provincial Board Member Andrew Montelibano, chair of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan’s committee on environment, said he will meet with PEMO chief Julie Ann Bedrio to discuss a possible audit of all quarry operations across the province.
GAN said river quarrying increases surface runoff, erosion, and reduces water absorption, aggravating flood risk.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) also condemned quarry operations. In a statement, CPP-NPA spokesperson Dionesio Magbuelas said this was the reason they burned equipment used by a village chief in a quarry business in Sitio Medel, Barangay Carabalan, Himamaylan on July 4.
Magbuelas said river quarrying harms not only the environment but also people’s livelihoods.
Former governor and current provincial consultant on energy and environment Rafael “Lito” Coscolluela urged the provincial government to convene a disaster risk reduction summit.
“If not yet done, it’s time to review all disaster risk reduction and management programs provincewide,” Coscolluela said.
He also called for immediate action on flood control measures such as dredging waterways, strict enforcement of solid waste management, and the prevention of soil run-off leading to river siltation.
“Where needed, additional flood control infrastructure should be correctly designed and properly constructed as soon as possible,” he said. – Rappler.com
