Heavy equipment of Solid Stone Center Corp. digs out coral rocks in barangay Bangbang, Cordova town where residents fear possible health hazards. The firm says they are developing a subdivision and not quarrying Mactan stone for export. (CDN PHOTO TONEE DESPOJO)
The Cordova municipal government suspended the operations of Solid Stone Center Corp. inside a private lot along the town’s coast where coral stone is being excavated.
Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy said the order will stay until the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) decides on the complaint filed by residents in barangay Bangbang.
“You are directed to suspend in the meantime your ‘activity’ in the aforesaid area. By activity means any work which will involve the cutting, removing, hauling or in any manner dealing with stones located in Bangbang, Cordova,” Sitoy stated in a letter to Solid Stone dated July 2.
He gave the company until Monday to answer the complaint.
Early this month, around 400 members of the Nagkahiusang Mananagat sa Bangbang complained about the ongoing excavation of Mactan stone which they feared would affect their health because acid was being used to cut the coral blocks which could affect their water wells.
Their spokesman, Rodrigo Agacita, also questioned why Solid Stone was drilling and digging deep to quarry rock while their Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) was issued only for “site clearing and leveling”.
In a technical conference at the Capitol yesterday, Solid Stone’s legal counsel, Carlo Fortuna said they were developing the area into a commercial subdivision.
He said the chemical used in the drilling process – sinocrack – has the approval of the Environmental Management Bureau-7.
Sitoy and PENRO Chief Chad Estella agreed to conduct an ocular inspection to check if the company followed the conditions set by its ECC.
Sitoy earlier said the Cordova municipal government totally banned quarrying of “all kinds of stones” since 2008 amid reports of coral stone excavation in one of their barangays.
The town council passed a resolution for the quarry ban after noticing that the activity caused degradation in rock and soil formation in many places. Mactan island is almost entirely made of coral rock.
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