AT least two Misamis Oriental board members have frowned over Phividec Industrial Authority’s cease-and-desist order on quarry operations that allegedly encroached on the industrial estate in Tagoloan town.
On Monday, Phividec administrator Jose Gabriel La Viña issued the order against five quarry operators. La Viña claimed that Phividec already lost some 70 hectares as a result of the quarry operations. He added that the Phividec board had authorized the order.
Phividec identified the quarry operators as Nicomedes Achas, Chique Cosin, Manuel Sukarno Alvarez, Salvador Fernandez, and Carlos Poras.
La Viña claimed that a survey in 2019 showed that the quarry operations made the river curve and stream through part of Phividec’s property. He alleged that this has endangered the lives of the families living near the riverbank.
However, the order could result in a legal battle since it challenges the authority of the provincial government to grant quarry permits. The capitol has confirmed that it has issued quarry permits in Tagoloan’s Sta. Ana and Mohon villages.
Provincial board member and chairman of the committee on environment Gerardo Sabal III called the order “discourteous.”
He said it has yet to be proven that La Viña’s claim is true.
Sabal added that Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano issued four quarry permits based on the recommendation of the local mining board. Emano sits as vice chairman of the mining board.
“No one gets a permit without compliance,” said Sabal.
He said they will look into La Viña’s claim and investigate if the quarry operations really ate up 70 hectares of the Phividec property.
“But there was no inter-agency courtesy in this case; there was no coordination whatsoever,” Sabal said.
Provincial board member Dexter Yasay also questioned the Phividec order and its move to disallow access to a public road in Tagoloan.
“No one owns the river. It cannot be owned by Phividec,” Yasay said.
He added that Phividec could have easily brought the matter to the capitol’s attention.
“It’s like putting the law into its own hands? I find Phividec’s move confusing. I don’t understand it,” said Yasay.
Yasay recalled that the quarry permits were issued after government requirements were complied with and that barangays in Tagoloan “interposed no objection.”
“The communities are okay with it; the town council is okay with it; the town mayor is okay with it. It seems only Pompee (La Viña) is not okay with it,” Yasay said. (HG)
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