Mining board orders Binalaw, Pulang Bato quarry stopped

Cebu City Environment consultant Nida Cabrera explains the waste to energy project in the city to the council in this file photo. Sitting beside her is Councilor Margot Osmeña

Cebu City’s Mining Board (CCMB) has ordered a cease on three quarry operations in the mountain barangays of Binalaw and Pulang Bato in the absence of city hall issued permits.

Nida Cabrera, the city’s environment consultant, said two ARN Builders quarry sites in Baragay Binaliw owned by Luzviminda Diano and another one owned by Elena Codiñera in Barangay Pulang Bato may also endanger the safety of nearby residents.

Cabrera said they have been asking the two operators to cease their operations since January but they failed to heed the city’s order.

The Mining Board, Cabrera said, is set to review activities of six more quarry operators during their scheduled meeting on April 27.

CCMB and the City Environment and Natural Resources (Cenro) are also pushing for amendments to the city’s mining ordinance to especially require quarry operators to submit an abandonment plan together with their permit applications and not after work has been done in the area.

“For us, if something can be done before the final abandonment, it must be implemented,” she said.

Cabrera said the Binaliw and Pulangbato quarry operators lack an Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“Their application is (for a) development permit but during inspection it is found that they were not doing an ordinary development but quarry (operations),” she said.

Cabrera added illegal quarrying is now a major concern in the city’s mountain barangays.

Several rules and regulations have not been complied with in their operations, she said.