Wednesday, November 05, 2008 Owner disputes CH finding on quarry
THE family of a sand and gravel distributor in Barangay Buot Taup, Cebu City corrected the findings of a City Hall office on the alleged illegal extraction activities in a portion of the Mananga River.
Evelyn Manalili-Te said her brother’s extraction activities are confined to their private property in the barangay and that their operations are covered by government permits and licenses.
She said that her brother gets sand and gravel from their 15-hectare property that is surrounded by a portion of the Mananga river, while some are extracted from Talisay City.
Te said that the inspection team from the City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) could have been misled by individuals who have been illegally extracting aggregates from the river, and blamed the activities on her brother.
“Dili man ingon na nanguha mi sa sapa... We have our own private land where we get sand and gravel. And contrary to the report that stated that our house is located some 100 meters from the extraction site, our land is located several kilometers away from it,” she said in a phone interview.
Te confirmed, though, that there are “fly-by-night” illegal operators who extract sand and gravel from the river.
“For all you know, the people interviewed by the inspection team just passed the blame to my brother. But his operations are legal, he has permits from the government,” she said.
Last Oct. 29, a CPDO inspection team that checked complaints of illegal extraction in the river submitted a memorandum to their head, City Planning and Development Coordinator Nigel Paul Villarete.
Among other things, they found out that the alleged illegal activities were under the management of a certain Ondo Manalili, which Te said is not true.
The team also reported that the activities don’t have permits from City Hall. (LCR)
