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[av_heading heading=’QUARRY ‘REST’ AT 5 RIVERS MULLED ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO – Quarrying in “critical areas” in five rivers may be suspended or cancelled.
Halting quarry operations in critical areas in Suage, Aganan, Jalaur, Ulian, and Sibalom rivers will give the bodies of water “ample resting time … to rehabilitate,” Provincial Administrator Raul Banias said.
This is one of the recommendations that provincial government and agency officials came up with after discussing the excessive sand and gravel quarrying in rivers that threatens bridges and dams.
Banias represented Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. in an interagency meeting that Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional executive director Jim Sampulna also attended last Thursday.
Quarry operations may also be cancelled at rivers where hardpans, locally known as dalipi – a dense layer of clayey soil below the uppermost topsoil layer – were already exposed due to disproportionate extraction, Banias said.
The officials also recommended a rapid assessment of all river systems and limiting the number of permitees in areas fit for quarrying.
A moratorium on the issuance of new quarry permits was being seriously considered, Banias said – iterating what Defensor already said.
After receiving feedback on the meeting, the governor “said he will act on these recommendations with dispatch,” said Banias.
Defensor will issue an executive order limiting the use of backhoe in quarry operations.
He also sought a supplemental budget for a rapid assessment study of the rivers and the hiring of monitoring and enforcement personnel, Banias said.
Two Regional Development Council (RDC) committees were alarmed with what they discovered after inspecting several quarry sites in the province, National Economic Development Authority regional director Ro-Ann Bacal had said.
The Regional Project Monitoring Committee found that due to the continued erosion of the riverbed, the foundations of the old and new Suage bridges in Janiuay town have been exposed, said Bacal, committee head.
The foundations of the Jalaur bridge in Calinog have also been exposed due to the degradation of the riverbed.
Also, massive quarrying downstream lowered the riverbed and put the National Irrigation Administration diversion dam in Barangay Anonang, Leon at risk of severe damage, the Infrastructure Development Committee discovered.
Quarrying activities were being done within the 1-kilometer distance from the bridges – something that is not allowed under Environment department rules – said Bacal.
The Regional Project Monitoring Committee also noted that quarry operators engage in excessive quarrying – they excavate more than the prescribed 1-meter extraction depth, resulting in scoured riverbanks and degraded riverbeds./PN
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