DENR to close quarry firm in Rizal ecopark

MANILA, Philippines — A quarry firm reportedly encroaching into the Masungi Geopark in Baras, Rizal will be closed and its permit will be cancelled, according to Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu.

“We will summon and give them a notice of violation for what they did here,” Cimatu said after visiting the area on Tuesday to verify reports that Rapid City Realty and Development Corp. fenced off a quarter of the 2,000-hectare ecotourism and conservation site.

Cimatu and other officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) removed the barbed wire in the area.

He said the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) is looking into the mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) granted by the DENR to the quarry company in 1998.

Cimatu said he also ordered the MGB to scrutinize the MPSAs of two other quarry firms – Quarry Rock Group Inc. and Quimson Limestone Inc. – which along with Rapid City are operating within the Upper Marikina River Basin protected landscape using the MPSAs they secured in the late 1990s.

“This is a watershed. We have identified this as a protected area and the mining companies are within the protected area,” Cimatu said.

He said Rapid City could be expanding its property in preparation for the renewal of its MPSA.