To stop 'illegal quarry': Capitol sets up checkpoints

CEBU - Two checkpoints have been set up by the provincial government to apprehend trucks used to haul limestone from a road project in the town of Consolacion, which has been branded as illegal.

Elements of the Cebu Provincial Police Office and the Army’s 78th Infantry Battalion are also in the area to provide security to the personnel from the Provincial Treasurer’s Office and the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO).

The checkpoints are meant to stop the quarrying activities, which are allegedly initiated by Mayor Avelino Gungob.

Roy Salubre, provincial treasurer, sent a memorandum to mayor Gungob last Wednesday about the setting of the said checkpoints at barangays Lamac and Danglag.

The government issued the said memo for the implementation of the Provincial Tax Ordinance No. 2008-10, the Revenue Code of Cebu 2008 Article E or Tax on Minerals, Quarry, and Sand and Gravel Resources.

“We are providing personnel to support the provincial treasurer’s office,” said Sr. Supt. Carmelo Valmoria, director of the CPPO.

Valmoria said that he received the instruction from the PENRO.

The people manning the checkpoints are tasked to apprehend dump trucks carrying limestone from the site until the municipal government gets the proper quarrying permits.

The limestone is believed to be a by product of the town’s road project in barangay Danglag

DENR-7’s Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau team, accompanied by members of the PENRO are also at the checkpoints to check on the documents such as the driver’s license and delivery receipts. If there is none, the cargo will be seized.

Mayor Gungob earlier interfered when the DENR moved to stop the project.

Gungob earlier claimed that the governor or even the president could not stop him from doing his development projects.

Meanwhile, Provincial Board Member Alfred Francis Ouano, who is the president of the association of councilors, offered himself to act as bridge between the provincial government and the Consolacion mayor.

Ouano is a town councilor of Consolacion.

“I’m sure Gov. Gwen Garcia has no intention to fight anybody, who follows right procedures and do things legally. That is not her way. But if illegal activities are done affecting the good leadership of the governor and her righteous intentions in serving Cebuanos, she is always in the frontline to quash those violators,” Ouano said.

Gungob who has been chided by Cebu Province for violating environmental laws in his road opening project in Consolacion earlier sued the PENRO and some officials for allegedly disrupting quarrying operations intended for the town’s road openings and other infrastructure projects.

The mayor insisted that the municipal government is not involved in quarrying operations, but is constructing a four-lane mountain highway. —Niña Chrismae G. Sumacot/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)