CEBU City councilors are encouraging government agencies and other concerned departments to closely scrutinize mining permits in Cebu City.
The councilors, who are allied with Barug Team Rama-PDP Laban, made the call on Friday as a way to prevent the Thursday’s landslide tragedy in Naga City in southern Cebu from happening again.
Councilors Joel Garganera, Raymond Alvin Garcia and Jun Alcover said that landslide that hit Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Tina-an in Naga City was a wake-up call for the community.
Naga City, which is located around 21 Km southeast of Cebu City, is known to have power-generating and mining industries. The landslide on Thursday morning claimed the lives of 29 people, as of yesterday afternoon.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Visayas (MGB-7) has yet to show the results of their investigation on the tragedy.
Residents, however, believed that the incessant rains had caused the soil to loosen, which they claimed had been made unstable due to the nearby quarrying activities, and could have triggered the landslide.
“It’s a wake-up call for all of us. This can happen all over the Philippines. It can happen in Cebu City. We have to take this matter seriously,” said Garcia.
Alcover, for his part, also asked the city government particularly the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO), to furnish them a list of legitimate quarrying firms doing business in the city, especially in the mountain barangays.
“The presence of possible quarrying activities in Barangays Binaliw, Budlaan, Pulangbato, Agsungot, Sirao, and Sudlon are being questioned. We’ve been receiving complaints, but we are yet to find out the list of registered quarrying companies,” said Alcover.
“If there are indeed illegal operations, they (city government) should do action. We should not wait when we will be filled with regrets once the thing we feared the most will happen,” he added.
Data from CCENRO showed that there was only one small-scale quarrying firm operating in Cebu City, and it was based in Barangay Pulangbato.
If administrative bodies of the government could not act on illegal quarrying, Garganera said that they could seek intervention from the Philippine National Police (PNP) instead.