Village teams urged to report illegal quarry operators in Iloilo

ILOILO CITY – The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) has sought the help of the barangay monitoring teams to report illegal quarry operations in the province.

This as complaints of illegal quarrying activities in the towns of Alimodian and Janiuay reached Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. last February 26.

Defensor said no official complaint has so far reached his table.

He said authorities can investigate illegal quarrying activities only with the presence of witnesses.

“(If) we have witnesses that will file the complaint, we’ll pursue it. We will call for an investigation and they will testify so that it will progress,” he said.

Lawyer Arturo Cangrejo, officer-in-charge of PENRO-Iloilo, said in a phone interview Saturday the reports have indeed come in photos and videos.

Cangrejo said formal complaints are not filed because in most cases, the reports come from one quarry operator against another quarry operator.

“These complaints are not put into writing because, other than the legitimate residents of the area, there are quarry operators behind the back. Those who come here in PENRO complains against his or her fellow operator and it creates tension,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PENRO calls for a technical meeting for the 150 quarry permit holders in the province and sends personnel to the area to check conflicts on quarry boundaries.

“We check if there was indeed overlap in the quarry areas. In some cases, there were overlaps (in the quarry area) and we issue a notice of violation to the violator and let him or her know our findings,” he said.

Cangrejo said the barangay monitoring teams are supposed to help apprehend illegal quarrying operators.

However, he added that some of the village officials and the barangay monitoring teams sometimes disregard their responsibility as they become “friends” with illegal quarry operators.

“It should be their responsibility to report. We seldom receive reports from the residents and we urge them to also be vigilant about illegal quarry operators,” he said.

Last month, an investigation was sought in the alleged illegal quarrying in the Jalaur River in Balud village, Zarraga and Bantud Fabrica village in Dumangas.

Fourth District Board Member Rolly Distura, in previous interviews, said the village officials in Bantud Fabrica reported that the quarrying might cause harm to the environment.

Distura said he personally saw three to four huge wooden-hulled boats, which can carry between 17 to 24 cubic meters of quarried materials each, operating in the village.

Quarry materials are being sold in Guimaras province, he said.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan’s (SP) committee on environment and natural resources has held a series of hearings regarding the matter.

Distura said the SP will recommend stopping the operation.

On the other hand, Defensor said the provincial government can only issue a moratorium in quarrying activities in a certain area when the river is “not environmentally-sound anymore.”

The governor assured that the province, through the PENRO, monitors extraction activities in rivers.

“We cannot say that we will stop that because we have to maintain roads and we need graveling but we are monitoring the levels of quarrying. If there are rivers that need to rest, we are giving it a rest,” he said. (PNA)

News Feed:

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1095182
Latest News | Philippine News Agency