The Philippine Statistics Authority-Cordillera Administrative Region (PSA-CAR) visited the Benguet Management Corporation’s (BMC) Irisan Lime Kiln Project, together with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)-CAR that conducted their Tenement, Safety and Health, Environment, and Social Development (TSBES) audit on March 02, 2023 at Irisan, Baguio City.

The site visit began with a meeting where PSA-CAR Chief Statistical Specialist (CSS) Aldrin Federico R. Bahit, Jr. introduced the PSA products and services. He explained that in addition to civil registry services and national identification system, the PSA is conducting surveys and censuses, estimating the economic accounts, environmental accounts, and many more statistical services that would provide better statistics for better policies that would in turn contribute to better lives. He added that the purpose of the site visit is to validate the data in accounting the mineral resources of the Cordillera.

BMC Safety Officer Joseph Fagyan facilitated the site visit through a tour, explaining the step-by-step flow in processing limestone. The process involves heating limestones in a kiln which undergo a process called calcining. Once baked at a specific temperature and duration, limestones will turn into calcium oxide otherwise known as quicklime. Adding water to quicklime would convert it to slaked lime or hydrated lime, a soft white powder that is widely used as a raw material in the chemical and mining industries.

PSA-CAR is currently working on the accounting of the mineral accounts of CAR for the years 2017 to 2021 and is expecting to release the estimates this year.

ALDRIN FEDERICO R. BAHIT, JR.
(Chief Statistical Specialist)
Officer-in-Charge