ILOILO – Sand and gravel quarries in this province may soon be placed under closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance.
“Amo na ang aton plan. It is quite ambitious pero indi mabudlay,” said Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr.
He underscored the need to set up a monitoring mechanism for mining or quarrying operations after concerns were raised about over-extraction and the illegal mining of river sand.
“May iban man nga mga trucks nga overloaded sang mga quarry materials rason sang pagkaguba sang provincial roads,” Defensor lamented.
The governor wanted all activities in the quarries be monitored through CCTVs from the Provincial Civil Defense Operation Center located at the Governor’s Boardroom in the provincial capitol.
He recently converted the Governor’s Boardroom into a 24/7 operations center to beef up the province’s response mechanisms to disasters and emergencies.
“We want those CCTVs connected here sa aton so that real-time puede ko makita ang ila operations,” Defensor pointed out.
Yesterday, he identified the town of Dueñas as the pilot area for the installation of CCTV cameras.
There currently 12 active quarry permit holders in the municipality.
“Nasugilanon ko ang [mga officials sang] Dueñas. We have 12 active permit holders there pero I’m not singling out Dueñas. As much as possible, ang tanan nga banwa puede naton butangan,” Defensor said.
Quarry operations were also reported in the towns of Calinog, Janiuay and Alimodian.
Last year, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office approved quarry applications for sand and gravel (72), industrial sand and gravel (18), and mountain quarry (58)./PN
