Heavy vehicles dump fresh dolomite at the “Dolomite Beach” along Roxas Boulevard in Manila on Tuesday, April 13. 📷 Grig C. Montegrande/Philippine Daily Inquirer
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Cebu Provincial Government confirmed that the “fresh dose” of dolomite sand recently poured into Manila Bay “white sand beach” came from Alcoy town.
This after they allowed the shipment of dolomite sand and pebbles from Alcoy for the controversial Manila Bay rehabilitation project.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia on Monday, April 19, said that she has given Dolomite Mining Corp. an exception to transport raw dolomite sand and pebbles. But the governor said they set a limit in terms of the volume of dolomite that will be sourced from Alcoy in southern Cebu.
The Capitol has not lifted its cease and desist order (CDO) prohibiting dolomite suppliers in the province to export and sell the mineral to the local market, said Garcia.
But the governor on Monday’s press conference revealed that the Capitol received a request from the Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu to allow their agency to source dolomite sand from Alcoy town.
“I did not lift that (CDO), we gave an exception upon the request of Secretary Cimatu because they needed to finish the Manila Bay project,” Garcia added.
She also said they allowed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) a maximum of 8,600 cubic meters of 2 to 5 millimeters (mm) of dolomite sand and 6,600 cubic meters of 6 to 10 mm of dolomite pebbles.
READ: LOOK: Dolomite sand poured again over Manila Bay ‘white beach’
The Capitol sent an official communication last December 11 to DENR to inform the latter of their decision.
During the same press conference, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer (Penro) Rodel Bontuyan told Garcia and members of the media that the Dolomite Mining Corp. has already shipped three metric tons of dolomite last February and another three metric tons last March.
Bontuyan said they are expecting another shipment of dolomite from Alcoy to the country’s capital this April.
On April 13, INQUIRER.net reported that a “fresh dose” of dolomite sand was poured to Manila Bay’s white beach, months after it first drew criticism from environment and fisherfolk groups questioning the project. / dcb