BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the City Government will uphold the law, insofar as quarry operation in Alangilan is concerned.
"The bottomline here is for us to do what is legal. We are guided by the rules and regulations and we will temper it with the realities. We deal with the matter with a very deep sense of evaluation," he said.
Lawyer Joselito Bayatan, city legal officer, said the issue on social acceptability is a continuing compliance on the part of the operators. "It is a component of the compliance. If there is a need for us to re-assess, we will do because we will see to it that the law is fully complied with."
The City Government is in the process of making a review and re-assessment of the quarry operation in Alangilan, particularly its environmental impact on the surrounding community. All concerned agencies of government will perform their respective functions to re-assess the quarry operation.
Secretary to the Mayor Rodel Parcon also coordinated with the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the agency to send a team of evaluators to the existing quarry operation of Jokris Enterprise operated by the Arceo family.
As to the petition for mandamus filed by two other Alangilan quarry operators, Parcon said there's nothing else that can be done regarding the application for a renewal of a mayor's permit to operate the quarries of Jojo Bonnin and Michael Lawrence Bantug, as those matters are now with the court.
He said if the DENR cannot send a team of evaluators here, he will recommend to the mayor the creation of an independent body that will do the re-assessment of the existing quarry operation in the said barangay. (Carla N. Cañet)