Governor Daisy Avance Fuentes approved the lifting of the temporary suspension order of quarry operations in quarry areas located in the City of Koronadal, earlier recommended for suspension by the Provincial Environment Management Office (PEMO).
The lifting stemmed after the consultation/dialogue conducted by PEMO led by Officer-In-Charge Siegfred Flaviano among affected quarry operators last February 20 at PPDDO conference hall.
Quarry operators in attendance agreed on the new proposed quarrying system but also requested to temporarily resume their operations to cater to their remaining projects pending transfer to the “communal quarry area” identified by the Technical Working Group of the Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board.
But PEMO recommended to the Governor quarry areas of permittees Henry Viado, Vilma Bonilla, Cristita de Guzman and Valentin Chiu not to be included in the temporary suspension order due to damage and heavy scouring in their quarry sites after the conduct of area verification by PEMO itself.
Likewise, permittees allowed to temporarily resume their operations are subjected to the terms and conditions of PEMO.
The terms and conditions include, strict extraction should be under strict supervision of quarry inspectors; extraction should be done only in the middle portion of the river and heavily silted portions; mineral deposit should not exceed 100 cubic meters per transaction and pemittee should submit extraction report for review and validation to verify replenishment capacity and mineral sustainability in the area; permittee should conduct riverbank re-vegetation and stabilization; and , deputized quarry inspectors can immediately order the permittee to stop operation and issue citation tickets in case of violations.
PEMO recommended last February 7 the suspension of quarrying operations in Topland and Marbel Rivers, traversing in Barangays Concepion, Magsaysay, Namnama and Sto. Nino, due to heavy scouring of the riverbank.
