CITY OF MALOLOS—Bulacan First District Congresswoman Marivic Sy-Alvarado calls for a House investigation on the alleged destructive operations of quarry and mining companies in Bulacan’s natural resources as she defended her husband Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado over recent order to confiscate in favor of the provincial government pieces of abandoned blocks of marbles in San Miguel town.
Gov. Sy-Alvarado is being accused of “abuse of authority” by a former village official from San Miguel town in the third district of Bulacan in support of the alleged owner of some of the marble blocks he ordered confiscated and kept in favor of the provincial government.
At least nine marble blocks which were found abandoned and scattered along the rivers and road sides in San Miguel were ordered hauled off by the governor to the Provincial Engineering Office (PEO) in Tabang, Guiguinto last October 2010 to prevent accidents as the blocks may roll down to passing motorists and residents.
But, a reported owner of some of the said blocks had questioned the authority of the local chief executive over such hauling off.
Atty. Rustico De Belen, head of the Bulacan Environment and Natural Resources (BENRO) said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office had allowed such seizure of the said abandoned marble blocks.
Gov. Sy-Alvarado told NEWS CORE on Thursday the marble blocks remain intact at the PEO together with earlier stocked marble blocks being kept there.
The governor had dismissed claims that the provincial government immediately claimed ownership and engaged in profitable discharge of the said minerals.
He said he even post a huge notice in tarpaulin on the said blocks that owner of the said minerals which can show pertinent documents of their ownership on them can claim the blocks within a certain period.
The notice reads “the marble block were abandoned in major thoroughfares and waterways at Sibul, San Miguel, Bulacan. They were hauled here to protect the public from flooding and accident that can be caused by such hazards and for safekeeping. Any lawful claimant is given two weeks from today (October 1, 2010) to file his/her claim at the Office of the Governor of through the BENRO.
According to the Congresswoman, full authority by the LGU’s to issue permits to mine and quarry one’s respective province mineral sites would stop sectors particularly mining and quarry companies from questioning the power of governors, mayors and even barangay officials in intervening in the said issuances for the protection of the natural resources.
The Bulacan solon in a privileged speech she delivered in Congress last Monday had pushed for stronger stake of the LGU’s over the DENR issuances of mining permits and mining operations in Bulacan’s marble and iron rich mountains to give full protection on the province wealth and natural resources.
Sy-Alvarado blamed the DENR’s granting of permits to mine and quarry in the mineral reserve area of Biak-na-Bato without a consent and prior conformity by the Bulacan provincial government as behind the degradation of the province mountain resources yet had only left a very minimal income generated in forms of taxes and local permits.
She said destruction in the natural resources of Bulacan especially in the Biak-na-Bato area today is imminent through the obvious left huge holes and diggings in the mountain areas and the numbers of abandoned marble blocks found along the rivers and side roads in San Miguel town.
She asked the Congress Oversight Committee to conduct investigation to look deeper into the implementation of the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) of the national government towards the LGU’s to clear the delineation and respective shares of the national government from the LGU’s including indigent communities from the tax income from quarry and mining operations in Biak-na-Bato.
“Ang pagbibibigay ng maigting na kapangyarihan sa mga pamahalaang local sa sektor ng pagmimina. The approval of any mining claim by the national government through the DENR must require concurrence of the provincial government through its local chief executive who could be held accountable for any environment degradation together with the mining claimants under the Writ of Kalikasan, the Local Government Code of 1991 and other laws,” she said in her speech.
“There should be equitable and transparent sharing benefits between the national and local governments. The 50% national, 10% provincial and 20% each for the municipality and host barangays) sharing scheme must be reviewed, particularly considering the indigenous people/s cultural communities in case the mining claims fall within the ancestral lands domains,” she said in her speech.
The previous minimal P15 million a year income generation of the Bulacan provincial government from marble quarry and other mining operations in the province natural resources rose up to over P40 million in July to October 2010 after Gov. Alvarado ordered full inventory and suspension of all quarry and mining operations in Biak-na-Bato and other mineral reserve and natural resources in Bulacan.
Affected mining and quarry firms appealed to the governor to honestly pay taxes and permits just to allow them to resume operation that caused the tax and permit generation to rise up to that amount in only a matter of few months.
De Belen today further projected a close to P100 million collection this year based on the initiated now being implemented collection reforms to the quarry and mining sector yet maintaining a preserved and protected natural resources of the province.
The lady solon is also pushing for amendment to the present mining laws to provide social and environmental safety nest for wise management of the environment and the protection of the people particularly the affected communities.
The lady solon also expressed support to the program of her husband for the mining and quarry firms operating in Bulacan to put up their own processing plants in the province to generate more employment and add more revenue collection in the province.
She also lashed out on the DENR’s issuances of permits without the consent of the provincial government as contributory to the killings of individuals engaged in the marble quarry sector in Bulacan.
According to the Congresswoman, The DENR’s earlier granting of Mineral Product Sharing Agreement (MPSA), a 25 years permit to quarry red tea rose marble in the said area to Rosemoor Mining and Development Corporation without consultation and prior consent with the provincial government ignited the murder of two squabbling owners of the said firm
Constantino Pascual, former CEO of RMDC was killed in 2008 in San Miguel town. His aunt who also claims full ownership of the company was strangled to death inside her room in her house in Quezon City last November 2010.
Earlier, Gov. Sy-Alvarado had been battling against such issuance of the MPSA to RMDC following internal squabble of the Pascual’s who are related to each other as aunt and nephew.
Alvarado welcomed the earlier decision by the DENR to cancel the said MPSA of RMDC.
He said the DENR should really stop allowing magnitude or large scale of quarry and mining in Bulacan’s natural resources and leave it to the provincial government province through the permits for small scale mining within 5 hectares area.