Monday, September 29, 2008 Ricafort rejects Guv's letter
CLARK FREEPORT -- Clark Development Corporation (CDC) president Benigno Ricafort has rejected Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio's letter alleging the existence of illegal quarry operation at the sub-zone here.
Ricafort also asserted CDC's authority over the management and issuance of permits inside the Freeport.
"We cannot accede to your request for us to stop our desilting operations and for us to provide your office with a list of all our permittees, if any," the new CDC president told Panlilio in his reply to the priest-turned-governor's letter date September 17.
In his letter, Panlilio asked Ricafort to stop desilting operations at the Sacobia River, which he described as "illegal quarry operation."
The governor said in his letter that the province's quarry monitoring teams were able to intercept earlier an alleged "quarry permittee," one J. Alejandrino, who yielded several receipts issued by the CDC that charged P75 for every truckload of quarry materials hauled from Sacobia River.
"This supported our previous insistence that the activity being undertaken by your quarry permittees is not permissible as it is tantamount to commercial disposition of quarry materials of which you are not allowed or permitted to do," Panlilio told Ricafort in the letter.
Panlilio also asked the CDC to submit the names of permittees since July 2007 to the present together with certain documents.
But in Ricafort's letter to Panlilio last September 26, the former denied any existence of illegal quarrying in the Sacobia River, adding that Panlilio's letter was "obviously uncalled for."
"We feel that your letter to CDC is highly inappropriate considering we have met on September 2, 2008 in our office and we have clarified to you that CDC has been undertaking desilting and excavation for the purpose of removing obstruction to the flow of the Sacobia River and thus put in place slope protection in our area of jurisdiction," Ricafort said.
He explained that the P75 is not a quarry fee but an administrative and road maintenance fee.
Ricafort added that the CDC strongly maintains and reiterates its position that it is within the authority, under various enabling laws, to engage and execute desilting operations at the Sacobia area.
CDC records reveal that prior to and during the implementation of the desilting project, the state-owned firm, through its Engineering Construction and Maintenance Department, undertook several projects to protect the said area that entailed a total project cost of P124,306,566.
Ricafort added that the CDC does not dispute the fact that the governor is authorized to issue proper permits to quarry operators, pursuant to the Mining Act of 1995 and the Local Government Code of 1991.
However, he asserted that this authority does not extend or cover the Clark Freeport Zone and the Clark Special Economic Zone, considering that CDC has the exclusive authority and jurisdiction within its territorial jurisdiction.
"We need to desilt the river to protect structures in the Freeport and to prevent flooding from happening here. We are not doing any quarrying, only desilting," Ricafort said in a separate interview. (IOF)
