DIGGING DREAMS

Miners’ Lineage

‘Mga para mina,’ is how people would describe residents of Dap-Dap. For so long, most of the Dap-Dap folks had considered mining as their main source of income given to the small-scale mines that operate in the barangay’s premises.

According to Elsa Bernaldez, a resident and a worker in mines for over 30 years, mines have sustained the barangay’s economy. Without mines, most households would fall directly into a worsened state of poverty.

“Poonpakaitotalagangpag-miminanadigdiangpagka-buhay.Pagdai kiminatalaganggrabeangnararanasannapagtioskankadamgapamilya,” Bernaldez said.

Aside from her, her children had also worked in mines starting in their childhood. Their family is among the miners’ lineage that continuously depends on the bounty of coals mined near their homes.

Irvin Santillan, Jr., the barangay’s chairperson, recognized that many children have been forced to work in mines, however, even the local executives remain powerless to resolve the problem because of insufficient allocation of funds.

“Makahirakon man ngani talaga iyan na mga aki ta aratabunon pa magtrabaho.Kudi,waramantalagakipangmatagalannasuportanamatatao ang barangay sainda lalo na kung talagang pagbawalan iriyan diyan na magralaogsaminatasiguradonggrabeanpagtiosangkapalit,”Santillan said.

According to him, the barangay always checks on the mines’ workers and ensures that no minors will be permitted to enter the mines. He said that children could only work as helps in mines, but not as actual miners.

“Iyan na mga aki pa, pigbabawalan mi talaga iyan magtrabaho sa laog kan mina. Uyan sana na pagsako niyan pagpili ki dalipay an pwede sainda ipagibotamasmakahirakmankungtalagangpaalionsaminataposdaeman matawankisustenersapagkabuhay,” Santillan added.

Bernaldez and many other mothers have been working in mines as coal cleaners and packagers. Despite the barangay’s effort to prevent minors from working inside the mines, there are still a few who still risk going inside the dark hollows and chasing their fate of survival.

“May mga nakaka-laog man guiraray na mga menor de edad sa laog kanminatanagdarakulanaiyansapagtrabahosaminakayamaskipapano tarataonatalaga.Masgustonakayanindanasalaogmismomagtrabahota masdakolsiyempreangganada,” Bernaldez revealed.

Meanwhile, Balinsayo also shared that many of his age choose to risks rather than see their family drowning in poverty. Most of the time, the wage from cleaning, sorting, and packing coals won’t be enough to support their whole family’s daily needs.

“Dae naman kaya kakayanon minsan kung pagpili sana kan dalipay, marahalonnamankayangunyananbarakalonkayamaskimatuasanasakuya kidiitnagraralaognaansamina,” Balinsayo shared.

The barangay council has been working on projects that can hopefully eradicate the problem. Given the lack of resources, they also have been in partnership with other non-governmental organizations for the welfare of the children.

“Maray ngani ta maski papano nakakatao man ki tabang iyan na mga NGOs,lalonasuBountifulChildren’sFoundationnanagtataoninkunsumolalo nakigatassamgakaakiannanangangaipuhan.KayauyansiDhen(referring tohersister)annag-aasikasopirminamatabanganmanlaloiyannamgaaki,” Santillan added.

Aside from the alarming child labor cases present in the barangay, most children are also suffering from malnutrition. Fortunately, organizations like Bountiful Children’s Foundation have been closely working with the barangay in providing children with food supplements, clothes, toys, and a monthly supply of milk.

Digging Dreams

Dalipay Fate

Dalipay is a mud-like stone that is found along with coals. These stones are rough and brittle that have not yet been metamorphosized into coal minerals that have been of high value for the resident miners.

Like Dalipay, miners like Jeremy, are too young to work in a physically demanding workplace such as mines. Their limbs, perhaps too brittle as dalipays, are not suitable for the rigorous work of miners but somehow found their way to challenge their physical delimitations and forcefully prematurely metamorphosized just to survive the ill of their fate.

Because of its zero value compared to coals, dalipays are often discarded. The issue of child labor in many mining places in the municipality has been discarded and neglected. The children of Dap-Dap are also often neglected. Their case had been heavily normalized and despite its alarming implications, the cycle goes on.

When asked about why he continues to work in times despite the dangers it imposes, Jeremy argued that he had no choice. His young mind has been determined to risk in exchange for the food that they share on their table after an aching day working in mines.

“Wara naman ki choice, pag mina na sana talaga an pag-asa ta ngani kami may makaon. Pag dae ka man nag-trabaho sa mina, dae ka man na kakaunon,” Balinsayo said.

According to him, he chose to sacrifice every day because he loves his family. He decided to stop going to school and worked instead because of his filial love.

“Siyempre, maski anong sabihon, padaba ko man po sina Mama, Papa, niyanangmgatugangkokayamaskidipisilnamag-minanasanaimbesmageskwela,talaganginimanguirarayanpipilionko,” He shared.

Like many other children and much so like his father, Jeremy dropped out of school weeks after he started working in mines. This had been the problem of the community as most households, despite free education, cannot financially support children pursuing higher - or at some point, even primary education because of extreme poverty.

To be sure, it is not extreme poverty and lack of resources’ monopoly that prevent children from being saved from working in mines that serve as their dream graves and from dropping out of school, but the neglect of the higher offices that have the power and resources to allocate more funds to support more sustainable interventions relative to the problem.