Baltazar Tribunalo
The intensified campaign of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) to apprehend violators including those sand and gravel companies committing Penro violations resulted to a 10-month collection of P15.7 million.
Edna Toring-Obenita, local treasury operations of the Office of the Treasurer, said that the P15.7 million collection more than doubled the P6.6 million amount collected in the same period last year.
Obenita said that the amount includes those collected by the Penro for violations committed by the sand and gravel companies as well as vehicle apprehensions of those who are found violating the restrictions imposed by the provincial government and other related laws.
However, Obenita pointed out that despite the increase in the collection of fines and penalties, the actual income of Penro has dropped from P16.3 million during the period of January to October of last year to P14 million during the same period this year.
He said that Penro, with its officer-in-charge Baltazar Tribunalo, temporarily suspended its operations for about two months this years to conduct evaluations.
Obenita said that during those months, the granting and renewal of permits were suspended as Penro officials conducted ocular surveys of the area subject to existing permits, hence the drop of the office’s actual income.
At present, Penro collects extraction fees from companies involved in sand and gravel extraction business within the province at the rate of 10 percent of the fair market value of the product.
The extraction fee for fine sand is P70 per cubic meter, for washed sand is P75 per cubic meter, ordinary sand is at P55 per cubic meter, anapog or limestone is at P20 per cubic meter, while banda or mixed is at P35 per cubic meter.
Provincial Ordinance No. 2011-23 sets the load limit on trucks carrying materials from quarry operations at 10 cubic meter per haul.
Earlier this year, quarry and gravel extraction operators have asked the provincial board to increase the load limit to recoup income losses.
Tribunalo also said that the provincial government is also looking at increasing the current extraction rate, but this is still being studied and nothing has been finalized yet.