The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) yesterday announced that there is no more quarrying operation going on within the 952-hectare Biak-na-Bato Mineral Reservation and neighboring areas of the Biak-na-Bato National Park in San Miguel, Bulacan.

“There is no truth to the reports that quarrying operations persist in Biak-na-Bato. All quarrying in the area stopped last July 11 with the suspension of the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) issued to Rosemoor Mining Development Corp. (RMDC),” Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Regional Director Anselmo Abungan said.

In a report to DENR Secretary Angelo T. Reyes, Abungan said a DENR investigation team confirmed that Rosemoor has stopped conducting any quarrying activities within its 330-hectare MPSA area in the Biak-na-Bato Mineral Reservation. The DENR team last inspected Biak-na-Bato on September 22.

The DENR team also reported that quarry operators who were issued permits by the local government had also stopped operating in Biak-na-Bato Watershed and in the mineral reservation.

Earlier, last August 7, a field verification team from the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) in San Rafael, Bulacan also reported that quarry operations in Biak-na-Bato National Park have ceased.

Secretary Reyes suspended RMDC’s MPSA on July 11, 2006 for lack of Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

Reyes likewise ordered the cancellation of five quarry permits issued by the local government because their permits are inside the watershed and mineral reservation areas in Biak-Na-Bato National Park.

Watershed areas are closed to mining or any commercial operation while jurisdiction over mineral reservation areas rests upon only the DENR.

“The five quarry permits were also cancelled because the Environmental Compliance Certificates (ECC) issued to them by the provincial government was illegal. Only the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the DENR who should issue the said ECC,” Director Abungan said.

Governor De la Cruz has appealed Secretary Reyes’ cancellation of the quarry permits to the Office the President. She has likewise sought the outright cancellation rather than mere suspension of the RMDC’s MPSA because it lacked an ECC and the endorsement of the provincial board. The governor’s appeal is still pending. (DENR Public Affairs Office)

October 4, 2006