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Monday, July 11, 2005
Naga quarry nearly deserted
By Liberty A. Pinili
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
IN 1999, a caravan of dump trucks loaded with quarry materials was almost a daily sight on the Naga-Uling road, as it moved down to the south highway to Cebu City where the South Reclamation Project (SRP) would rise.
With about 12 cubic meters of quarry materials loaded on each, the trucks bored holes on roads they passed.
But while the Naga-Uling road is still in a state of disrepair, only a few hauler trucks can be found plying the area, while vegetation and houses can now be found in old quarry sites.
In Barangay Cantao-an, Naga, a damaged hauler truck and leveled mountains are the only things left of massive quarry operations just outside what had been the New Cebu Township One (NCTO), a special economic zone developed by the MRC Allied Industries.
In Lutac, Naga, Lita Abellanosa revealed that they had sold their land to quarry operators who were supplying filling materials to the SRP.
Earnings
She said she and her husband did not profit much from the quarry operations: the quarry operator paid them P80 per truckload, and the amount had to be divided among her husband and his three siblings.
But the family was able to build a new house along the Naga-Uling road, after their old home near the river was damaged by floodwaters.
Abellanosa admitted they were also able to save enough money to buy a multicab.
Her in-laws were also able to repair or build new houses on their land when the quarry operation stopped.
She said they also earned a little by selling food to truck drivers and quarry workers.
But like other residents who were in the same business during the construction of the SRP, Abellanosa was unable to collect the debts of quarry workers and drivers.
“Nalugi man nuon kay wa na man sila mobalik para mobayad sa ilang gipang-utang,” she said. (We were not able to earn profit because they left without paying their debts.)
In Cantao-an, Malding Alferez recalled that the land, which is occupied by her house, used to be a mountain, until heavy equipment of quarry operators leveled it.
Investors
Her in-laws used to own the land but sold it to former Cebu governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña.
Osmeña was a major stockholder of MRC Allied Industries.
Two foreign investors — Seagate Technology Inc. of the US, maker of computer hard disks, and Kinseki Limited of Japan – were supposed to locate in NCTO but both projects were unable to start operations due to the 1997 economic crunch.
Between 1998 and 200, quarry operations became rampant in the area.
In a special report published on Nov. 25, 1999, Sun.Star Cebu reported that 90 small-scale quarry permits were issued by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) at Cebu Capitol.
Of the 90, 29 were operating in Naga.
Safety measures
In 1999, the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB) 7 recommended to the Capitol to suspend small-scale quarry operations in Lutac, Naga, after a team of MGB 7 personnel found that operators were not implementing safety measures.
In 2000, then Gov. Pablo Garcia suspended 26 permits of quarry operators who violated conditions in their respective environmental compliance certificates (ECCs).
Floods and landslides that hit Naga during typhoon Nanang in 2001 were blamed on quarry operations.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Government was left the task of repairing the Naga-Uling road.
MGB 7 officer-in-charge Roger de Dios, in an interview Saturday, said many small-scale quarry operators in Naga at that time failed to implement safety and rehabilitation measures.
The problem was made worse by the absence of a system to monitor the quarry operations.
“There was no multipartite monitoring team for quarry areas before, so no one was able to check on compliance of ECCs,” he said.
Trust fund
While quarry operators were required to put up a trust fund for the rehabilitation of the site after the project (quarry), he said the permit holders were allowed to withdraw the money even though they have not rehabilitated the area.
The MGB 7 and the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) appear to have learned a few lessons.
The MGB 7 and the PMRB recently submitted to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia a draft mining ordinance, to amend a local measure passed in 1993 yet.
The draft ordinance would require applicants for quarry and small-scale mining permits to put up a trust fund, which will be used to rehabilitate the project site.
If the quarry operator fails to rehabilitate the site, the funds will remain with the government, which will take on the task of rehabilitating the area.
De Dios said the guidelines for the use of rehabilitation funds have yet to be discussed by the PMRB.
The draft mining ordinance also sets guidelines on monitoring of small-scale quarry and mining operations.
“We also tried to anticipate (the problem of) lack of monitoring. We helped local government units where there are small-scale quarrying and mining operations to organize multipartite monitoring teams,” de Dios said.
He said such teams have been created in Balamban and for Sapang Daku River in Toledo City.
Costs
Quarry operations during the construction of the SRP had brought in a total of P2.507 million in excise taxes to the Capitol – and P2.535 million from January to October 1999, according to Bureau of Internal Revenue records – and employed hundreds of people. But there were residents in affected areas who were unable to benefit at all.
Alferez, who lives in a shanty where the only furniture are a dining table and two benches, said she could not recall the total sum her in-laws received from selling the land, but the property was sold at P22 per square meter.
In 1999, Sun.Star Cebu reported that Geo-Transport Construction Inc. (GTCI), the subcontractor of Toyo Construction (contractor of filling materials for the SRP), paid quarry operators P140 per cubic meter.
A dump truck, depending on size, can carry from 12 to 14 cubic meters.
(July 11, 2005 issue)
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