The top ten entries of a photo contest gave a glimpse of the environmental damage that a province has suffered due to mining.
The Diocese of Borongan in Eastern Samar uploaded the winning entries of its photo contest “PITAD UG PAG-AMPO PHOTO CONTEST” on Facebook on August 7.
The contest ran from July 7 to 27 under the theme “On the Massive Environmental Degradations in Eastern Samar due to Mining.”
The Diocesan Commission on Social Action – Justice and Peace (DCSA-JP), the Borongan diocese’s social action arm, announced the winners on its Facebook account.
It also uploaded the ten best pictures that captured the message and goal of the contest’s environmental theme.
Here are the photos that showed the different aspects of life in Eastern Samar that were affected by the mining activities there.
They also showed the damage that mining has done to the once-lush forests of Homonhon Island.
In a separate post, the DCSA-JP listed the names of the three winners and the cash prizes they will receive.
- First prize – Alren Beronio
- Second and third prizes – Karl Montes
Beronio will receive P50,000. Montes will get P40,000 because his two entries were chosen in the second and third spots.
Photographers who took the rest of the selected entries will receive P500 each.
The competition was sponsored by a technology company called Cebu Telenet, which is led by Anthony Cepeda.
This initiative, meanwhile, was launched as part of the diocese’s protest against the mining operations in the province.
Church workers of Borongan’s diocese joined anti-mining activists, Typhoon Yolanda survivors, and other concerned Filipinos in widespread condemnation of the decade-long mining activities in Homonhon Island. This island is located in the municipality of Guiuan.
Bishop Crispin Varquez of Borongan previously called on the government to cancel the mining permits of the companies working there.
“Please cancel all mining permits used by mining companies operating in our areas,” Varquez said in a statement.
READ: Bishop leads call for end to mining in Samar
Reports, meanwhile, stated that the Eastern Samar Provincial Government flagged four mining companies there have unpaid taxes amounting to P133 million.
The reported companies are:
- Cambayas Mining Corporation
- Techiron Resources Inc.
- Emir Mineral Resources Corp.
- Sinai Mining Exploration and Development Corp.