A very big joke

Ben  Contreras

I GUESS I was beaten to the draw by Dr. Bob Ocio but I am going to write about it just the same.

What is this about Ceka’s Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) allegedly cancelled by DENR?

Ceka has long been inoperative (even before Sendong struck) due to the low grade of copper ore in their area coupled with the fact that many people in authority seem to have insatiable greed for easy money.

Yes, there are still small facilities under the care of some people and the remaining tailings that found their way to small-time thieves for whatever worth it may have, but one councilor capitalizes on this to promote his image as a crusading environmentalist.

After Sendong, the then 2nd District Cong. Rufus R. Rodriguez filed a resolution in Congress to make Cagayan de Oro City a mining-free zone. “Yes, I filed two bills declaring CDO a mining-free area and a total log ban area. They were approved by the House but were not approved in the Senate,” reads his Jan. 20 text message to me.

Was that announcement for a show? Is Environment Secretary Regina Lopez fed with wrong information? Are there people at the DENR in need of deodorizer?

The real issue in the city and its hinterlands today is not mining. Once in a while we get reports of operations and apprehensions about illegal mining. But what about illegal and unregulated quarrying? Is it not happening? Come on, everybody knows who these people are, including two congressmen!

Reports reached DENR regional director Tawantawan, some personally conveyed. And what do they get? Sweet smile and empty words.

Dr. Ocio, during his brief visit, took pains to go to the areas, took pictures for evidence, communicated with concerned government offices, including Secretary Gina Lopez, and all they got was a cancellation of an ECC of a long dead company. What a joke, a very big joke!

DENR-10 stinks. Unless there would be an overhaul, environmental tragedies will continue to befall our city.

The recent floods destroyed properties and infrastructures. Would the income of Clenro, proudly announced at P9 million, be sufficient for the repairs of road destroyed by flood and long before, destroyed by dump trucks moving quarried materials?

Whose bowls are being protected, city officials? At one point they act like crusaders but when their interests are threatened, “Unsa man ni? Magkinulubay ta ug kaldero?”

To those who are into unregulated quarrying, cheating on your volume, relying on your power as government officials: the next time tragedy hits not just the innocent people but you and your equipment, that would be karma.

Once again, whether this reaches the ears of Lopez or not, the next tragedy will come if we continue to think only of the cure but not the disease.