MEDIA STATEMENT
APO Cement Corporation
November 13, 2018
The ongoing suspension of the operations of Apo Land & Quarry Corporation (ALQC), following the landslide of September 20 in Naga City, has continued to adversely affect the operations of APO Cement Corporation (APO Cement).
In order to meet the requirements of the market, APO Cement is currently sourcing its materials from different parts of the country and even abroad, a move that is putting significant cost pressures to the operations of the company.
Meanwhile, close to two months since the government ordered the stoppage of the quarrying operations of ALQC, its quarry operations remain suspended in compliance with said directive of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), and the City Government of Naga.
APO Cement is increasingly concerned of the continuing absence of clarity in the government’s program of action in mitigating the existing hazards in the landslide area, even after the conclusive findings of experts from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which declared that the landslide was a natural phenomenon.
Given the current situation, APO Cement is now constrained to implement the temporary lay-off of up to about 30% of its employees and a reduction of around 40% of its contractors. A formal notice was filed with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional Office informing it of this decision. Further, APO Cement is assessing the operations of its key warehouses and terminals in the country.
APO Cement, the second largest cement plant in the country, is saddened with the difficult actions it is forced to take at this time, especially as its products are helping support the Philippine Government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure development program in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
APO Cement is still hopeful that the situation in Naga, Cebu will improve with the support of the local and national government authorities in allowing ALQC to immediately resume its operations and further for ALQC to be able to restore safety in the critical areas with the approval of its proposed Hazard Reduction Plan.
“APO Cement has been in Cebu for nearly a century already, we have fostered our solidarity and malasakit to our communities for several decades now, but these are extremely challenging times and we need to make these hard decisions,’ says Mr. Maniago.
Both APO Cement and ALQC have quietly helped the City of Naga from day 1 of the landslide incident, providing financial support to affected families as well as food and shelter to almost 8,000 individuals in Naga’s evacuation centers everyday.
`While we put all efforts in ensuring that the needs of the community come first above everything else and while we have also been very transparent in answering all and any questions, it is unfortunate that some sectors and individuals cast doubt on our integrity, which divert our attention from the current tasks at hand. Even in this very difficult time, we will continue to focus our efforts on helping the community and the City of Naga. We hope that all who are genuinely concerned can focus on doing everything to get the City of Naga back on its feet,’ Maniago added.
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