Cimatu answered the issues on dolomites

For our special presentation on our talk show “Straight from the Sky” we bring you updates of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) a project of the Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. which started construction last March 2017. With us tonight is project manager Engr. Allan Alfon. This is the second time we have featured CCLEX, the first time was last year when we went on site.

However, for this particular interview we are doing it via Zoom with Alfon and since we cannot go to the construction site like last year, Alfon just sent me drone shots of the construction area so our televiewers can see how far the construction has gone. This project is expected to be finished by 2021. One special feature that would make this bridge a special icon/tourism site for Cebu is that its spires wills feature four lighted crosses to signify Cebu’s role in the Christianity in this part of the world. This will be seen as far away as Bohol Island.

So watch this update of CCLEX with Engr. Allan Alfon on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

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Whenever our bike group would ride to the south of Cebu, we always pass by that dolomite mining firm that has been there for more than 20 years now. Then out of the blue, thanks to the project that I also supported, the cleanup of Manila Bay, they apparently used dolomite sand so that the people of Manila can take a swim in the much-cleaner Manila Bay. Then suddenly those so-called environmentalists declared that dolomite is not good for use in Manila Bay due to the litany of problems that people could get with the dolomite sand that came from Barangay Pugalo, Alcoy.

Over the weekend, I saw on YouTube the congressional interview of Department of Environment and Natural Resources Sec. Roy Cimatu who answered the questions by congressmen (I couldn’t identify them as they were wearing face masks) and Cimatu answered all the questions very well. Another YouTube interview that I saw was with Manila Mayor Isko Moreno by former ABS-CBN’s Karen Davila who obviously acted like one of the environmentalists. But when Mayor Isko asked her where she was when people complained about how dirty Manila Bay had become she could not give a proper reply!

What I didn’t like was that the group that calls itself the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, which has condemned the extraction of dolomite rocks insist “Manila Bay waterfront was declared a national historical landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in 2012. It is protected by the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009. The act mandates that the bay ‘shall be maintained as close to their appearance at the time the area was most of importance to Philippine history as determined by the National Historical Institute’.” This has nothing to do with dolomite!

These so-called environmentalist groups are only there to make noise so they can inform their financial supporters that they are doing something that has made national headlines, and get additional funding in the process.

Incidentally, I just read a news report that the Cebu Provincial government will no longer investigate the extraction of dolomite rocks by a mining firm in Alcoy that are being used to beautify the Manila Bay as pointed out by 3rd District Provincial Board Member John Ismael Borgonia, chairman of the committee on environmental conservation and natural resources.

Borgonia said the investigation is no longer needed since the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has already issued a statement regarding the crushed dolomite used as raw materials in filling the stretch of Manila Bay.

The MGB earlier said that a mining firm in Barangay Pugalo was issued a permit to transport the minerals to Manila Bay and that they were “extracted, produced, and shipped out to various buyers following proper regulatory laws and procedures.”

Anyway, we Cebuanos know enough that many of our high-end resorts here have been using dolomite sand on their beaches. I remember the time when these resorts in Cebu was accused of hauling sand from islands in Bohol in order to have white beaches. But since the Dolomite plant in Alcoy became operational those rumors have stopped!