Gov, DENR stop quarrying in Banahaw

LUCENA CITY—Authorities have ordered at least five companies to stop quarrying operations on the slopes of Mount Banahaw in Sariaya town in Quezon for violations of their mining permits.

According to the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB), Gov. David Suarez issued the cease-and-desist order to three mining companies found operating near the buffer zone of Banahaw, a protected area, last month. Two other operators were sanctioned by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for other quarry permit violations.

Webster Letargo, PMRB vice chair, withheld the identities of the companies pending the completion of an investigation report.

To strengthen the campaign against illegal rock mining operations in several Sariaya villages, the DENR and PMRB designated “deputy environment and natural resources officers” from the municipality, community environment and natural resources, Mounts Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Area Landscape and nongovernment organizations, Letargo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Monday.

The officers will help monitor mining operations activities.

Last week, the protected area supervisor for Banahaw-San Cristobal reported that she had been receiving reports that illegal quarry operations were back at the foot of Banahaw in Sariaya.

The report of Sally Pangan prompted the PMRB and the DENR’s Mining Environment and Safety Division (MESD) to conduct an inquiry. Dondi Sarmiento, acting head of the regional MESD, said the investigators found only “violations” by mining permit holders of the terms and conditions of their environmental compliance certificates (ECCs).

“There were no illegal quarry operations,” Gliceria Verzo, head of the provincial EMB, said.

Letargo explained that mining permit holders who excavated their areas anew did not know that these were near the Banahaw buffer zone where digging is not allowed. “Prior to the proclamation of the site as buffer zone, the area was a legal mine site,” he said.

He said his office was waiting for official guidelines from the DENR to address the issue.

Letargo said Suarez also asked all quarry operators to comply with the provisions of their ECCs, particularly on the rehabilitation of mine sites. “His order is to follow the ECCs to the letter or face revocation of their mining license,” he said.

Sariaya has been limiting quarry operations to the riverbed as part of its flood control program. Since the construction boom in the 1980s, the municipality has been a source of high-quality aggregates for Metro Manila and Southern Tagalog.