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[av_heading heading=’‘RIVERS DYING’ DENR warns vs excessive quarrying ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO City – Excessive sand and gravel quarrying could kill rivers, warned the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 6, and in Iloilo province some rivers are already showing signs of dying.
Regional Director Jim Sampulna said it would be better for the department to be vested with the sole power to issue or deny applications for small-scale quarrying or mining of sand and gravel.
“Sana ibalik ang authority sa DENR, kasi for small-scale mining this is currently being done by local governments. Kung ibabalik sa DENR, we could have proper control of that,” said Sampulna.
He, however, did not identify the so-called dying rivers of Iloilo.
Even Environment secretary Roy Cimatu is considering the idea, the director revealed.
Sampulna also suggest that the provincial government of Iloilo solely handle sand and gravel quarrying in the province so it could regulate and control it. Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr., however, is hesitant.
“Tama ina ka delikado. Gwa sina kami manegosyo (sand and gravel). Medyo komplikado ina ka tama,” said governor.
Defensor, however, clarified he was not closing the door to the suggestion. He said it should be “studied and considered very carefully.”
Sampulna said municipal governments may do it.
“Ito kasing nagkwa-quarry, (they) are after money. Hindi nila kinokontrol ang pagmimina nila so rivers are dying,” he said.
In a “quarry summit” that the provincial government organized November last year, data showed there were 51 quarry permitees in Iloilo; there were 95 in 2015.
Recently, two Regional Development Council committees expressed alarmed over what they discovered after inspecting several river quarry sites in the province.
According to National Economic Development Authority regional director Ro-Ann Bacal, the Regional Project Monitoring Committee found that the foundations of the old and new Suage bridges in Janiuay town have been exposed by the continued erosion of the riverbed due to quarrying, similar to what was happening to the foundations of the Jalaur bridge in Calinog, also due to the degradation of the riverbed.
On the other hand, massive quarrying downstream lowered the riverbed and put the National Irrigation Administration’s diversion dam in Barangay Anonang, Leon at risk of severe damage, the Infrastructure Development Committee discovered.
Quarrying activities were being done within the one-kilometer distance from the bridges – something not allowed under Environment department rules – said Bacal.
The Regional Project Monitoring Committee also noted that operators engaged in excessive sand and gravel quarrying excavated more than the prescribed one-meter extraction depth, resulting in scoured riverbanks and degraded riverbeds.
Defensor is set to sign three executive orders in relations to quarry operations in the province. These are:
- an order declaring the temporary suspension or moratorium on the issuance of commercial sand and gravel and industrial sand and gravel small-scale permits covering new areas within major river systems in the province of Iloilo
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an order regulating the use of backhoe in the extraction of sand and gravel materials in certain areas within river systems in the province, and
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an order creating an interagency task force for rapid river assessment of the major river systems in the province of Iloilo.
Sampulna said DENR is set to conduct a rapid river assessment in Iloilo.
At last year’s quarry summit, quarry permitee Ric Macalalag from Janiuay town claimed illegal quarrying was affecting the operation of legal quarry operators like him.
“This is a big concern, too, like illegal gambling. Illegal quarry operators are raking in a lot of money every day without paying the government the proper dues,” said Macalalag.
He urged the provincial government to stop the illegal extraction of sand and gravel mostly from the province’s rivers.
Illegal quarrying was reportedly rampant in the towns of Calinog, Janiuay, Cabatuan, and Alimodian.
“We legal quarry operators pay our taxes correctly. Our businesses are legitimate but the illegal operators are hurting our operations,” Macalalag lamented./PN
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