Toledo to ban Sapangdaku quarrying

CEBU, Philippines - The Toledo City Government is strongly pushing for the total ban of all sand and gravel quarrying operations in the Sapangdaku River.

The City Council has passed a resolution sponsored by Councilor Helen Jill Espinosa for the immediate stopping of all sand and gravel quarrying operations or activities in entire Sapangdaku River for the next five years.

Sand and gravel quarrying in Sapangdaku River has greatly damaged the river, riverbed, and riverbanks.

“We are the living witnesses of its ongoing destruction through brazen abuses and illegal quarrying activities and willful violations of environment rules and regulations,” the resolution read.

However, Mayor John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña said the problem is that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has been continuously issuing industrial permits to quarry operators.

Osmeña said that there is also a problem in the enforcement of laws by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office.

“Ang akong solusyon is total ban, dili na tugutan nga magkuha pa og balas ug graba sa sapa kay madaut ang atong environment,” Osmeña said.

PENRO is tasked to approve and release permits for small-scale mining sites or those that only have five hectares or less of mining land, while the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the DENR is responsible for giving permits to large-scale mining companies.

PENRO has been conducting checkpoints against hauling of illegally extracted sand and gravel but Osmeña observed the activities are still ongoing.

“Ang mga checkpoints sa DENR ug sa Capitol tunulan lang og tag P500 kay ang usa ka truckload worth P14,000. That is really a problem of enforcement,” he said.

Osmeña said that the total ban could easily facilitate the implementation of the law and the operators can no longer use the DENR-issued permit to defend their illegal activities.

“It is a problem that straddles the City of Toledo, the provincial government of Cebu and the national government through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources,” Osmeña added.

PENRO chief Chad Estella earlier said that if the conditions set in the Environmental Compliance Certificate are followed, mining laws would be properly implemented.

Estella said that PENRO approves permits with the presumption that all is well on the part of the local government units considering that they also require a recommendation from the city or municipal mayor.  (FREEMAN)