PORAC, Pampanga\u2014Gov. Lilia Pineda had allowed a company to quarry rocks near the Malele River here four months after its environmental clearance certificate (ECC) expired in January last year, documents showed.
\nUpon the recommendation of the Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board (PMRB), Pineda approved the quarry permit of Clarkstone Corp. on May 6, 2011, even though the ECC lost its validity on Jan. 29, 2011. The permit expired on May 6 this year and the governor has not renewed it due to opposition by members of the Nagkakaisang Mamamayan para sa Kalikasan at Agrikultura (Namaak), a farmers\u2019 group.
\nPMRB recommended the approval of the quarry permit through Resolution No. 22-2011, despite opposition cited in the same resolution.
\nOscar Cabayanan, former director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), noted on ECC R3-0812-484-2236 of Clarkstone Corp. that this was to be \u201cvalid for two years.\u201d
\nThe ECC was attached to the application of the company for an industrial sand and gravel permit from the Pampanga government, a set of documents showed.
\nDated Jan. 26, 2009, the ECC lapsed on Jan. 26, 2011. The quarry permit issued by Pineda was dated May 6, 2011, or four months after the ECC lost its validity.
\nPineda said she was having the documents reviewed by provincial administrator Andres Pangilinan, a lawyer.
\nPMRB will deliberate on the issues once the reports are done, said Danilo Uykieng, head of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Luzon and PMRB chair.
\nGilbert Baquing, Clarkstone president, said the ECC issued to his firm remained valid. In text messages on Sunday, Baquing said the ECC has been \u201crenewed for a month now.\u201d
\nThis could not be immediately confirmed with EMB.
\nThe quarry site, stated in the ECC to be 37,134 square meters, turned out to be composed of five lots covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
\nFive farmers obtained titles to the lots through emancipation patents (EPs) issued to them in 1990.
\nOn Thursday, when farmers gathered at the riverside land, Dominador Mendoza, chair of the Barangay Agrarian Reform Council in Barangay Pio here, showed a survey plan listing the names of 69 beneficiaries of EPs.
\nCARP beneficiaries are required to seek clearance from the Department of Agrarian Reform to use CARP land for purposes other than agricultural, said Teofilo Inocencio, DAR director in Central Luzon.
\nWhat was attached to Clarkstone\u2019s applications was a copy of a resolution by a judge that dismissed the claim of Belmonte Agro-Industrial Development Corp. over the lots that were previously mortgaged to the Philippine Veterans Bank.
\nThe owners of the five lots gave Baquing a special power of attorney to \u201cextract quarry materials\u201d on their lands.
\nThe ECC authorized Clarkstone an annual extraction rate of not more than 40,000 metric tons.
\nPablo Sese, one of the lot owners, said he wanted the rocks removed from his land so he can resume planting rice on it.
\nLazaro Santos, former village chief of Pio, said the operations of Clarkstone destroyed the riverbed of the Malele River and reduced the supply of irrigation water.<\/p>\n