Cebu grants permit for more dolomite shipment to Manila

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu provincial government has allowed an additional shipment of dolomite products from Alcoy town in southern Cebu for the beautification project of Manila Bay.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia confirmed that the Capitol has granted a permit for the shipment of the 8,600 cubic meters of 2-5 millimeter (mm) size dolomite sand and 6,600 cubic meters of 10-22 mm size dolomite pebbles from Dolomite Mining Corporation to be poured as artificial white sand in Manila Bay.

"Trusting this expedites the completion of the rehabilitation program of Manila Bay as I remain fully supportive of the Department of Environment and Natural Resource's programs," read part of the letter of Garcia to Atty. Jonas Leones, Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and Internal Affairs of DENR last December 11, 2020.

Garcia though clarified that the cease and desist order (CDO) she imposed against DMC and Philippine Mining Services Corporation (PMSC) for further extraction and domestic selling of the mineral product last year still remains.

“I did not lift that, we gave an exception upon the request of Secretary (Roy) Cimatu because they needed to finish the Manila Bay project,” Garcia told reporters during her live press conference at the Capitol yesterday.

Garcia ordered the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources (PENRO) to monitor the shipment ensuring that the volume of the dolomite sand and pebbles is within the allowed volume to be shipped.

Rodel Bontuyan, PENRO chief, said that the mining firm has already shipped three metric tons of dolomite in February and another three metric tons in March this year.

Another shipment is expected this month, according to Bontuyan.

Last week, it was reported that another volume of the dolomite was poured in at the Manila Bay for its rehabilitation project. The said activity drew another criticism from the public. — GMR (FREEMAN)