Mines Bureau reduces number of agents against illegal quarrying

The Bureau of Mines and Geo-Sciences regional office has renewed the services of only three Talisay City agents who have been deputized to watch for illegal quarry operations in Mananga River.

There used to be at least 20 deputized agents guarding Mananga and other possible sites in Talisay City for illegal quarrying but the lack of accomplishment reports in their work prompting the bureau to disband the group and renewed the services of only three of them.

Regional director Roger de Dios said that he also received reports that these agents had allegedly abused their authority that they even used for getting money from violators they caught.

There were some agents who had also complained against political interventions, which only made their arrests as useless exercises because violators are eventually forgiven anyway, said de Dios.

De Dios said this time the bureau would now require the remaining deputized agents to endorse their apprehensions of violators to the bureau itself which it turn would impose the proper actions. He also expected that the planned inter-agency group, headed by the Cebu 2nd Engineering Division, be realized to make the fight against illegal quarrying more effective.

Cebu 2nd Engineering District head Daisy Toledo recently said that the multi-agency group that her office is heading, had already proposed for the legalization and regulation of the excavation and hauling of filling materials from Mananga.

“The best means to do such thing is to legalize the quarrying so that those who are engaged on it will not lose their means of living,” Toledo said.

She said that the multi-agency group is just like a “quasi” Mananga Task Force, in response to the call of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources with the mandate of prohibiting quarrying within a kilometer radius from any government structure, which in this case is the Mananga Bridge.

The group has yet to obtain authority similar to the one granted to the Mananga Task Force, and to be granted logistics to sustain nighttime operations.

The other components of the group are the City Police, academe, and the city planning and development office.  — Ferliza C. Contratista/RAE