TROUBLED WATERS. Children cross the calm Sapangdaku river near barangay Cambang-ug, Toledo City. Sand and gravel quarrying has resulted in increased landslide and flood hazards in communities near the river. (CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON)
To finally solve the long-running problem caused by sand and gravel quarrying in the Sapangdaku River, the Provincial Board (PB) is now in the process of drafting an ordinance regulating river activities.
PB member Alex Binghay said the proposed ordinance would effect the ban on sand and gravel quarrying in the Sapangdaku River in Toledo City.
Sought to be included in the proposed ordinance is the creation of a task force to monitor activities at the river and oversee the ban on the issuance of delivery receipts of sand and gravel from the river. Rechanelling activities on the river would also be stopped.
The task force will be composed of representatives from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO), Toledo City officials both in the barangay and city, Toledo City police and the different stakeholders operating near the river.
“Nakadungog ko ni Sonny (Toledo City Mayor John Henry Osmeña) nga dili siya gusto anang rechanelling kay himuon ra man gihapon nang pasangil,” he said.
(I have heard from Mayor Osmeña that he does not approve of river rechanelling activities as this is just used as a front for quarrying.)
Binghay said private landowners who are into sand and gravel quarrying near the river will be required to provide an easement zone of 100 meters away from the river.
Last Friday, PB member Grecilda Sanchez-Zaballero said a poultry farm owner whose building is located near Sapangdaku River went to the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office to complain of massive erosion in the land where his business is located.
Zaballero added, she is happy that the Siyagit sa Sapa, a nongovernment organization monitoring rivers in the province is monitoring the condition of the Sapangdaku River.
Sapangdaku River is more than five kilometers long and traverses through barangays Magdugo, Cambang-og, Ilihan and Sangi.
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