Sonny O supports halt of Sapangdaku quarrying

Toledo City Mayor Sonny Osmeña in a rare appearance at the Provincial Board’s session where he called for the total ban of quarrying in the Sapangdaku river in Toledo City. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

Toledo City Mayor  John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña yesterday called for a total ban of quarrying in the Sapandaku River.

He appeared before the Provincial Board (PB) where he said this requires a stop to the issuance of  delivery receipts (DR) for sand and gravel by the provincial government.

“We support the total ban of any extraction of from the Sapangdaku River. But if you are going to have a total ban and you still issue DR, way kwenta  kay tamparoson man ka anang DR (the ban would be useless),” Osmeña said.

Osmeña said he hopes the Cebu Provincial Board can address this concern and stressed that the ban should be absolute.

Last year, PB Member Alex Binghay proposed an ordinance to stop river quarrying in the area but the measure is yet to be passed by the PB.

Recently, the Toledo City Council  passed a resolution stopping sand and gravel quarrying in the entire Sapangdaku River in the next five years.

Last week, PB also passed the resolution  authored by PB Member Grecilda Sanchez-Zaballero of the 3rd district banning the use of backhoes in Sapangdaku River as this has caused substantial damage on river banks and disturb residents in the area during evening operations.

Osmeña said they already doubled the deployment of security personnel in the river to stop the quarrying.

He threatened to take legal action if the city police don’t  do their job in keeping an eye on the quarrying activities in the river.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale called for the suspension of the issuance of DR and asked the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) to address the concern right away. PENRO chief Czareem Joseph Estella said they will find a way to stop the issuance of the DR and permit to quarry.

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