Quarry funds raise income of Pampanga, says governor

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Pampanga government reported generating P236.1 million in fees and taxes on Mount Pinatubo sand at the end of 2011, the highest annual collection made in the local quarry industry.

The 2001 proceeds from quarrying sand, called “white gold” here, raised to P355.5 million the fees and taxes drawn in the 18 months of the administration of Gov. Lilia Pineda, a report from Pampanga’s Environment and Natural Resources Office (Enro) showed.

The 2011 collections surpassed the records of the administration of former Gov. Eddie Panlilio in 2008 (P196.2 million) and the state-owned Natural Resources Development Corp. in 1999 (P145.2 million), Inquirer data showed.

Pineda continued the reforms introduced by Panlilio, mainly making haulers and quarry operators pay the P150 administrative fee and P150 sand tax at the provincial treasurer’s office. The fees were paid in quarry checkpoints during the administrations of Gov. Manuel “Lito” Lapid and his son, Mark, from 1995 to 2007.

Of the 2011 collections, no data was made public on the amounts of revenues received by the province, towns and barangays from the P150 sand tax on every truckload of sand. The provincial government is using the P150 administrative fee for regulating and monitoring the industry.

It did not report how much quarry revenues had been retained in a bank as a result of a pending dispute over Executive Order No. 176 that Panlilio vetoed but which the provincial board enforced to support the clamor of the Pampanga Mayors’ League to get bigger revenue shares.

However, former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ruled that the amounts collected by the provincial government were all administrative fees and could not be distributed. At Panlilio’s appeal, a court allowed him to distribute the P150 sand tax.

Inquirer sources said Pineda could further increase quarry income if the sand business of some local officials, done through relatives or dummies, were strictly monitored.

Arthur Punsalan, Enro chief, did not reply when asked for comments on  the monitoring of quarry activities.

An Enro report said the provincial government gave away 10,701 truckloads of sand, worth P3.3 million, through gratuitous permits for local government projects in several towns. It also gave out 5,415 truckloads of filling materials to various groups. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon