Four barangays in Mountain Province entered into an inter-barangay agreement to maintain and preserve the watershed within their boundary.
Barangay Mainit in Bontoc and barangays Sacasacan, Poblacion, and Demang in Sadanga, Mountain Province forged the agreement on Sept. 26 to maintain and preserve the natural state of the water table within Adod, Namagayan, Kiyom, Fay-engan, Kaykay (Tokotok), Sherkan, Foshaw, Maguron, and Farnek.
The barangay officials and elders agreed to also avoid disturbances and alterations in the natural state of the water table and allow the natural flow of water in said areas, which are their tribal boundary areas.
The agreement also stated that previous illegal mining activities in some areas of Farnek and illegal logging activities in some areas of Adod, Namagayan and Kiyong adversely affected the environment and strained relationships among the people of said barangays.
The agreement prohibits any illegal mining or logging activity in the area and violators shall be heavily penalized by the community in addition to legal cases which shall be filed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-CAR.
The barangay officials have also been deputized by MGB-CAR to apprehend illegal small-scale miners. – Press release
