Teenager dies in minesite accident

AROROY, MASBATE --- A 15-year old local villager was found dead on a road within a restricted mining area of the Filminera Resources Corporation here on Sunday, February 28, 2021.

Police investigation revealed that the victim, Kent Bryan Gerez, 15 and his friends, were sleeping at an open area in a waste rock dumpsite of Filminera Resources Corporation, when he was accidentally hit by a dump truck at around 4:00 AM.

The victim and his friends were inside the mining site without authorization.

According to the official police report issued after the investigation, the victim was apparently waiting for an opportunity to scavenge ore from the waste dump during a period of inactivity at the area.

Filminera has reached out to the bereaved family and temporarily ceased its operations during the police investigation. Subsequently, mining operations have already resumed.

“This is an unfortunate and very tragic incident. We value lives and the safety of the people within the mine site and the surrounding communities so we are deeply saddened to have this happen within our mine site,” Geronimo Badulis , Jr, Filminera Resident Manager, said.

“We will continue to work with community leaders to prevent another incident from occurring in the future,” he added.