THE Provincial Environment Management Office (Pemo) is set to conduct a Governor’s Permit Holders Forum/Dialogue for quarry applicants on the first week of February 2020 in Bacolod City that aims to give permit holders an opportunity to raise their concerns and pursue possible resolutions.

It will also be a venue for the national government agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), to inform permit holders on the new policy directions for 2020 in line with Negros Occ. Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson’s development agenda.

According to PEMO head lawyer Danilo Amisola, with such initiative, the Province is taking a bold step in promulgating significant changes to promote a more responsive and organized system in sand and gravel (SAG) operations for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Gov. Lacson has signed Executive Order No. 20-01 last January 8, 2020, which provides Sand and Gravel (SAG) applicants an additional extension not exceeding 90 days to process their permits in addition to the 270-day period; it is in response to numerous requests for additional number of days in the processing of requirements related to SAG operations applications.

Recently, the Pemo institutionalized a more efficient database management which involves the pre-evaluation of applied areas for SAG and quarry operations. This new system requires that the applied area be inputted into the system to determine whether there is overlapping over applied areas, thus, preventing potential conflicts among SAG applicants.

Such innovation resulted in the decline of complaints on overlapping in conflicted areas. (PR)