Davao City Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang has announced to media on Monday that the City government will intensify monitoring of illegal quarry operation. (Kath M. Cortez/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has ordered environment officials to closely monitor illegal operations of sand and gravel quarry operation.
Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang said during a press conference on Monday that the Mayor has asked the Task Force Davao, the Davao City Police Office and the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) to put up checkpoints to monitor trucks carrying extracted minerals traveling in and out of the city.
Quarrying taxes contributes about 10 percent for the city’s annual income, but quarrying operations by companies or individuals who do not have permits and do not pay taxes have led to loss of potential income of about 50%.
Davao City has 53 existing quarry operators with permits while 64 operators are currently applying for permits.
Dayanghirang said that out of 64 applicants, 4 of them were rejected by the City council.
Dayanghirang said that the City Council may reject more application because some applicants have applied quarrying in areas that are “not allowable by the zoning ordinance, even if they keep on asking for an exception.”
He said that “until the City Planning can come up with an inventory of natural resources for disposal, the council will keep on rejecting applications.”
Dayanghirang CENRO staff were forced to abandon their checkpoints posts at night when they received threats from unidentified persons.
He said the city relies on barangay officials to help in the monitoring, given that local barangays get 40 percent share on quarry taxes. (davaotoday.com)
