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BY BOY RYAN ZABAL
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Residents of Barangay Bakhaw Norte, Kalibo town oppose the dredging of the Aklan River. The local Environment department office stopped the contractor charged with the activity. DURAN DUVILL / AKLAN FORUM JOURNAL
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Monday, January 30, 2017
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KALIBO, Aklan – A company was ordered to stop dredging the Aklan River until it fully complies with government requirements.
The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) has not allowed the STL Panay Resources Company Ltd. to dredge the river.
Penro head Ivene Reyes issued the STL, through Managing Director Patrick Lim, late last week a show-cause order and a cease-and-desist order.
The company was given 72 hours, or three days, upon receipt of the show-cause order to explain why it started with the dredging without permits and why no legal action must be imposed on it.
In light of complaint from villagers, the Penro and its mother agency checked on Jan. 23 if the STL has indeed started dredging the Aklan River and if the activity was causing riverbank erosion.
MV Zhong Hai 18, the dredger vessel commissioned by the STL, had two out of six compartments “filled with an estimated 1,200 cubic meters of sand sediments,” according to the Penro.
“You are directed to stop any dredging operations in the area pending compliance [with] all government requirements,” Reyes told the STL.
On Jan. 26 around a hundred residents of Barangay Bakhaw Norte took to the streets to express anger and frustration over the river dredging.
After marching toward the Penro and the Aklan District Engineering Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways, they headed to the capitol to seek a dialogue with Gov. Florencio Miraflores.
Bakhaw Norte barangay captain Maribeth Cual accused the STL of not just dredging but “mining” the Aklan River.
Protesters raised placards and banners that read, “Stop Dredging Operation, Save Bakhaw Norte Soil Erosion” and “STL Mining – Hindi Dredging.” Another slogan read, “Salot sa Taga Libuton (STL).”
Libuton is a sitio (hamlet) in Bakhaw Norte.
Under an agreement between the STL and the provincial government, the company shall dredge 15 million cubic meters of sand from the river over the next three years to de-clog the body of water of silt and debris.
Supposedly the dredging was aimed at preventing floods near the riverbanks, which happens during heavy downpour.
But the locals insisted there were other means.
A proposal to build a P38-million revetment wall was brought up during a dialogue between Rep. Carlito Marquez, Mayor William Lachica and the Bakhaw Norte residents in the afternoon of Jan. 26.
Bakhaw Norte has 2,336 residents, as of the 2015 Census. The 312.75-hectare is bounded by Sibuyan Sea and Aklan River. (Aklan Forum Journal/PN)
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