Officials and residents of Tablas island in the central province of Romblon today welcomed a decision by a Canadian mining company to withdraw its applications for an exploration permit because of “strong opposition from local politicians.”

“It is indeed the unity and strong opposition of the people of Romblon against mining that resulted to the withdrawal of the application of Ivanhoe Philippines. This is a giant step toward a mining-free Romblon,” said Romblon house representative Eleandro Jesus Madrona.

In January, the provincial government banned large-scale mining of metals while a bill declaring the province a “mining-free zone” is pending in Congress. Some residents blame continued mining in the area for a series of floods and landslides.

Leo Deiparine, president of Ivanhoe Philippines, said last month they had decided to withdraw applications ”based on Tablas as a low priority exploration target and the strong opposition of the local politicians to the approval of our applications.”