P3 B in lahar sand quarry income lost under Lapids?

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Based on the present collection of fees from lahar sand quarrying under the administration of Gov. Eddie Panlilio, Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao said the provincial government might have lost about P3 billion in potential quarrying income in the past nine years.

Guiao told The STAR that the province earned some P11.6 million from quarry permits from July 2 to 13, adequately showing that the monthly average gross income from quarrying amounts to about P1 million.

Based on this monthly average, the Panlilio administration could generate about P359.35 million a year, he said.

Also based on the figure, Guiao said the entire six-year administration of former governor, now Sen. Lito Lapid had a shortfall of about P2.095 billion in quarry income, while the term of his son Mark, who lost in the recent elections, was short of P1.03 billion.

The P11.6 million generated in only 11 days this month, according to Guiao, indicated an average income of P966,000 per day, P29.94 million per month, and P359.35 million per year.

Quarry permit fees were raised from P40 to P300 per truck during the second term of the elder Lapid.

“The quarry permits are used by quarry operators for hauling lahar sand on the same day or the following day after they were acquired, so the collections so far would be enough to establish the actual trend in the average income influx,” Guiao said.

“We can round out the figures to about P1 million per month, as my estimate is that while quarry income goes down to as low as P700,000 monthly during the rainy season, it peaks to more than one million from November up to the following May,” he said.

During the elder Lapid’s two-term stint as governor, Guiao said the average quarry income was about P10 million per year or only about P60 million in six years, while during his son’s three-year term, the average income was only P15 million per year or only about P45 million throughout his administration.

Guiao estimated that altogether, some P3 billion in quarry income was unaccounted for during the administrations of the Lapids.

Guiao has filed administrative and criminal cases against the Lapids over alleged anomalies in quarry fee collections.

While Guiao lauded the Panlilio administration for increasing quarry income, he cited the need to computerize the collection system and put in place a “fool-proof” mechanism against possible cheating.

“So far, the new provincial administration has instituted only two things: change the personnel in charge of quarry oversight in the field, and concentrate payment of permits at the capitol. These are not enough to guard against relapse,” he said.

Guiao said the provincial board, which he presides over, is working on a system to prevent cheating in quarry fee collections.