AWKWARD best describes the most recent statement that was issued by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office in Rizal.
In an article posted in another media website, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources provincial office in Rizal claimed that suspending quarry operations in the entire province could hurt public and private infrastructure projects in Metro Manila, where the province supplies the bulk of aggregates extracted from its mountains.
Huh? Since when did Congress give PENRO the mandate to show penchant for the construction industry? The last time I checked, PENRO’s mandate remains unchanged — to protect and preserve the environment.
Isidro Mercado, chief of the DENR office in Rizal, issued a statement which runs against the position of the Rizal provincial government which has so far sent five letters to Malacañang since 2009.
Obviously pissed off with the national government’s inaction, Rizal Governor Rebecca Ynares took drastic steps in what many local folks believe as the right thing to do – close them all down.
In a memorandum order dated Nov. 26, Gov. Rebecca Ynares ordered a “stoppage … on all quarrying and mining operations and related activities” in Rizal.
The order, a copy of which was furnished the office of Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, “strongly urges the DENR to cause the immediate stoppage of all mining tenement agreements that it granted covering a total land area of 4,964.3162 ha … including all crushing plant operations.”
Part of the memorandum reads: “Likewise, all local government units (city and municipalities) … are strongly advised to cause the immediate stoppage of all land development activities, including subdivision development.”
Montalban and San Mateo towns were the hardest-hit by Typhoon “Ulysses” which poured heavy rains and triggered widespread flooding in Rizal and Metro Manila last month.
“Time and again, the losses of lives and limbs, and millions of pesos in terms of property damage … ushered by Typhoon Ulysses have been repeatedly attributed to quarrying and mining operations and related activities,” Ynares said.
On Nov. 18, the governor also wrote President Duterte to appeal for a “general moratorium” on land development, mining and quarrying in Rizal. She said this had been the provincial government’s plea since the administration of then President Benigno Aquino III.
Efforts to get the Montalban local government’s position proved futile. Its Mayor, Tom Hernandez, seemed “too preoccupied.”
Interestingly, Hernandez’s town hosts the most number of mining operations, which has been largely blamed for the massive flooding since 2009.
No less than President Rodrigo Duterte instructed the DENR and the Philippine National Police to implement the stoppage order “immediately.” As it is, they have yet to comply.
According to PENRO Mercado, they had not yet formally received Ynares’ order as of Monday.
Perhaps, PENRO Mercado should seriously consider working more on the protection and preservation of the environment rather than be stressed with the economics embarking on the construction industry.
Mr. Mercado, please allow me to share a little of what I know about the evils of mining operations in Montalban and San Mateo towns.
Several people in PENRO-Rizal are handsomely benefitting from the mining operations in these towns.
Among those who are into illegal mining operations in this critical area includes a former mayor and his son, an incumbent mayor.
I have also personally seen many mine-out areas in Montalban. It looks much like huge volcano craters filled with water, which to my surmise may have significantly contributed to the massive flooding in Montalban and adjoining localities of San Mateo and Marikina City.
You must be asking me how I found my way there – a friend who used to work for the Montalban Aggregate Producers Association took me to several mine-out areas.
Looking back at the news article, Mercado said quarrying was not solely to blame for the floods, stressing that it was a problem too complex and compounded by heavy rainfall, saturated watersheds and heavily silted tributaries.
Quarry sites in Rizal occupy a total of 278 hectares of land, which to Mercado is just a small portion of the province’s total land area.
Mercado claims Rizal supplies mainly to Metro Manila and the suspension may affect the national government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ project and other local infrastructure projects.
Fact-checking on data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) region showed 29 companies in Rizal had been issued with Mineral Processing and Sharing Agreements, of which only 17 are operational. Twelve companies are operating with permits issued by the local government.
Question: Why are there over a hundred mining operations in these two towns alone?
Answer: Because there are dubious DENR officials in Rizal on the take, plus town officials who are behind the mining operations in this ecologically exhausted place which by the way is part of a protected area under existing Philippine laws.