Butuan environment office: 26 arrested Chinese illegal workers

BUTUAN CITY- The local Environment and Natural resources office on Sunday confirmed that the 26 Chinese arrested by Immigration agents from Manila last Wednesday were working without permit in two mining barangays in the city. Butuan City Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO) said the illegal foreign workers were working either as investors and consultants in two small-scale mining firms whose operations were earlier suspended by the city government. Forester Jess Ivan Saburao, in-charge of small-scale permit holders at the Butuan City ENRO, told GMA News that his office knew that the Chinese were in Barangays Bilay and Maibo in Butuan City. Saburao said he has personal knowledge of the foreigners who worked as consultants and engineers in the ongoing construction of the two mineral processing plants in the area. He said he suspected the Chinese were principal investors in the construction of multi-million-peso mineral processing complex and in the operations of the two small-scale mining firms in the area. He identified the two mining firms as the S and B Mining Corporation located in Barangay Maibo and whose permit holder is a Filipina who married a Chinese. The other is the Butuan Far East Mining Corporation operating in Barangay Bilay whose permit holder is a certain Vilma Gado. The S and B Mining is owned by couple Abigail Rimando and Manny, a Chinese who already knows how to speak Filipino. Saburao said that Butuan City Mayor Ferdinand Amante Jr. suspended the operations of the two mining firms after a landslide hit the area, resulting in deaths of some residents. Also he alleged that the mining permits were suspended due to some technicalities, including the alleged declaration of wrong location for the construction of mineral ore processing plants. It was not known if the city government suspended the construction of the two mineral processing plants. Also, Saburao claimed the two mining firms got Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the local Environmental Management Bureau Office for their small-scale mining permits. The permits were issued by the City Mining Regulatory Board (CMRB). The two firms were given twenty hectares each for their operations. The Butuan ENRO only served as working secretariat of the CMRB, Saburao said. According to the Butuan City Police, the 26 Chinese were arrested last Wednesday while they were in their bunkers at the construction sites. Police and Immigration agents from Manila headed by Immigration Officer Angelo Geronimo identified the arrested Chinese as:

1. Liu Wei 2. Meiqiang Feng 3. Hong Chao Chen 4. Rongze Cai 5. Jie Ma 6. Shouzhong Xu 7. Fayou Wang 8. Liliu Jiang 9. Zhiwei Chen 10. Wei Jiang 11. Yong Zhong Wu 12. Zhiyang Zheng 13. Lihua Zheng 14. Youmei Wen 15. Hongfu Chen 16. Shaohua Kong 17. YU Cao 18. Shangbing Li 19. Jinsong Cheng 20. Haitao Kong 21. Anmin Yang 22. Jiaobai Shi 23. Hong You Chen 24. Bingying Chen 25. Xiarong Kong 26. Hsu Yi-Chen

The Bureau of Immigration and Deportation personnel from Manila, in cooperation with Butuan City police, arrested the 26 foreigners as they were only able to present visit visas as travel documents. — Ben Serrano/LBG, GMA News