Hacienda Luisita clarifies quarrying reports

TARLAC CITY — The management of Hacienda Luisita belied reports that more than 70 hectares of the sugar estate are being illegally quarried.

This came in the wake of complaints from residents of three barangays in the hacienda that sub-contractors of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) have quarried more than what was permitted by the provincial government.

Lawyer Vigor Mendoza, legal counsel of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), said certain people were immediately tasked to look into the complaints.

"We also invited some people from the provincial government to assist us in the on-site inspection," he said.

Based on the inspection, Mendoza said the quarry operator, indeed, went beyond what was allowed "but (what was) taken was only 1.9 hectares and not 70 hectares as claimed by the residents."

Under a memorandum of agreement with HLI, Hasama Corp., a BCDA contractor for the construction of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, may undertake quarrying in "non-productive" areas inside the hacienda. 

Despite the agreement, Mendoza said HLI "does not gain anything from (it) financially."  

With the results of the on-site inspection, he said they may recommend appropriate action for the violation to the provincial government.

Alfred Reyes, head of the provincial agrarian reform office, said the provincial government gave a certain Rolando Tongco, a sub-contractor of Hasama Corp., a permit last Nov. 18 to quarry in the subject lands for one year.

Under the permit, Tongco was allowed to "extract and haul" 50,000 cubic meters of soil and sand.

Early this year, Tongco was fined P200,000 for going beyond the area for quarrying operations.

"Tongco is only permitted to quarry maximum of five hectares of non-productive land in Barangay Asturias and nothing more," Reyes told The STAR.  

Asturias is one of the 10 barangays covered by Hacienda Luisita. 

However, residents of two other barangays — Bantog and Pasahes — claimed that quarry operators have also encroached into their communities.

Renato Galang, president of the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU), said "productive lands" have also been affected by the quarrying.

Galang claimed that the "ratun" or the portion of a cut sugarcane stalk left intact in the ground is destroyed as a result of the quarrying.

"Kailangan namin yun para sa susunod na pagtatanim (We need it for the next planting season)," he said.

Reyes met with the affected villagers and the officers and members of the ULWU in a dialogue at the regional office of the Department of Agrarian Reform in the City of San Fernando City, Pampanga last Wednesday to discuss possible action plans to stop the quarrying. 

Also present during the dialogue were representatives of the Bureau of Mines.

As agreed upon, the bureau will recommend to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources the revocation of the permit of the quarrying operator inside the hacienda.  

Meanwhile, Tarlac Vice Gov. Marcelino Aganon said he will immediately order an investigation into the complaints.

"If (they are) true, then the permit of the quarry operator should be revoked," he said.