Abstract

Small-scale mining industries inevitably affects the living

conditions in the community where the operations are

conducted. This qualitative study was aimed at conducting an

investigation on the effects of small-scale mining activities

in Itogon, Benguet in terms of (1) safety and security; (2)

economy; and (3) the environment. Following the green

criminology approach and purposive sampling method, the

researcher interviewed three groups of respondents: (1) the

miners; (2) the residents; and (3) the local government unit

representatives in the community. The questions revolved

around three main thrusts: (1) the effects of small-scale

mining activities; (2) the actions done by the SSM companies

to address the effects of small-scale mining activities; and

(3) the policies that can be formulated in relation to the

identified effects. The findings proved that there exists a

variety of damaging effects caused by the mining activities

which posed threats to safety and security, economy, and the

environment in Itogon, Benguet. Also, the study found out

that the actions taken by the mining companies were not

sufficient enough to combat the damages that the mining

operations have caused. Based on the collated suggestions of

the three groups of respondents and the inferred notions of

the researcher that were gathered from the interviews, the

 Abstract 4

researcher proposed a list of policies that can be adopted by

the small-scale mining companies in order to address the

problems and needs of the affected barangays and also help

alleviate the current situation in the in the mining sites.

Key words: green criminology, small-scale mining, effects,

actions, policies