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Thursday, August 3, 2017
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ILOILO – Excessive quarrying for sand and gravel is endangering a dam and three bridges, the Regional Development Council (RDC) disclosed.
Two committees of the council inspected several quarry sites and were alarmed with what they discovered, according to Ro Ann Bacal, regional director of the National Economic Development Authority and head of RDC’s Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC).
An inspection with another RDC committee (the Infrastructure Development Committee) on July 6 discovered that the National Irrigation Administration diversion dam in Barangay Anonang, Leon town was in danger of being damaged severely because of the lowering of the riverbed caused by massive quarrying downstream.
RPMC also inspected the old and new Suage bridges in the municipality of Janiuay and found out that their foundations were now exposed.
This was due to the continued erosion of the riverbed, said Bacal.
In Calinog town, the foundations of the Jalaur bridge were exposed, too, due to the degradation of the riverbed.
According to Bacal, quarrying activities were being done within the one-kilometer distance from the bridges – something that is not allowed under rules of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
RPMC also noted that quarry operators engage in excessive quarrying; they excavate more than the prescribed one-meter extraction depth resulting to scoured river banks and degraded river beds.
Bacal bared the results of the inspection during an inter-agency meeting at the provincial capitol. Present were Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. and other provincial officials, and regional officials of the National Irrigation Administration, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Public Works and Highways, and Environmental Management Bureau.
Defensor immediately directed Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) head Atty. Arturo Cangrejo to intensify the monitoring of quarry operations in the province.
He said excessive quarrying, especially on rivers, must be stopped because this could cause the destruction of government infrastructures and lead to disasters, especially in communities surrounding river systems.
To recall, Defensor called for the First Provincial Mining and Quarry Summit on Nov. 9, 2016 in the midst of the construction boom in the city and province of Iloilo.
During the summit, he asked the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to help identify alternative areas for quarry operations like the mountains to spare the river systems from too much extraction.
As of August 2016 there were 65 small-scale mining permittees in the province composed of the following:
* commercial sand and gravel (CSAG) – 51
* industrial sand and gravel (ISAG) – 14
* government gratuitous sand and gravel (GGSAG) – 1.
Cangrejo said these small-scale mining permittees operate on 14 river systems in the province.
Meanwhile, there were 61 quarry permit holders in the province under the following classifications:
* ordinary earth – 35
* limestone – 20
* basalt – 6
Cangrejo said some quarry operators engage in over extraction of quarry materials allotted to them while others engage in illegal quarrying activities.
The provincial government is planning to amend an existing ordinance to increase the penalties of violators. (Capitol News/PN)
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