Quarrying banned in Chocolate Hills

TAGBILARAN CITY — Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado has issued an administrative order prohibiting the issuance of quarry and mining permits near the Chocolate Hills.

Aumentado issued Administrative Order No. 3, Series of 2006 the other day after Carmen Vice Mayor Josil Trabajo, the acting mayor, admitted in a recent radio interview that he has allowed the extraction of limestone in Barangay Montesuerte since 2001.

The limestone extracted was to be used in the construction of barangay roads, a project of Trabajo.

Aumentado recently inspected the boundary of Carmen, Sagbayan and Dagohoy towns and was irked to find quarrying activities there for which he had not issued any extraction permits.

Aumentado immediately directed provincial attorney Handel Lagunay to file appropriate charges against those behind the illegal quarr