CITY OF MALOLOS – Gov. Joselito Mendoza assailed the Department of Environment and National Resources for allowing the transport of marble ore from the Biak-na-Bato mountains in Doña Remedios Trinidad town despite an appeal from the provincial government to stop it.

Mendoza said Danilo Uykieng, acting director of the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Luzon, issued an ore transport permit (OTP) to the Rosemoor Mining and Development Corp. on Dec. 23.

Mendoza said he was informed that the OTP would be valid for 30 days from its issuance or until 124 marble blocks and scraps, with a volume of 511.85 cubic meters, are hauled out and delivered to their consignee.

He said the permit was issued despite the Bulacan government’s appeal to Environment Secretary Lito Atienza to again suspend the mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) granted to RMDC.

Atienza order

He said the appeal, contained in a resolution signed by provincial officials, was sent to Atienza in September last year.

In July 2006, former Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes suspended the MPSA and the operation of RMDC in its 330-hectare mining and quarry sites at the Biak-na-Bato National Park’s mineral reservation area pending the firm’s compliance with DENR directives. The provincial board also passed a resolution canceling the firm’s MPSA.

The MPSA grants RMDC 25 years to operate in the Biak-na-Bato mountains.

Uykieng, however, said his office issued the OTP based on an order from Atienza lifting the suspension of RMDC’s operations in July last year.

“There is no other order except [for an advisory saying] the [RMDC] suspension was lifted. We [are waiting for] instructions [to know] if we will stop the issuance of OTP,” he said.

The Dec. 23 OTP was the second permit granted to RMDC after it resumed operations in September last year.

Not informed

But Mendoza said the provincial government was not informed that the RMDC’s suspension had been lifted.

In October, he said personnel from the DENR in Bulacan, MGB regional office, the police, environmental groups and provincial and local officials inspected the RMDC mining site and found several violations.

He said among these were the lack of public consultation and lack of approval or endorsement from the barangay and town councils and the provincial board of its operations.

But Zenaida Pascual, widow of RMDC president Celestino Pascual, said the call from provincial officials seeking to stop RMDC’s operations was a form of harassment.