Dredging or black sand mining? Completion of permits, project can start

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Unless all permits and other pertinent documents are complied with, the proposed multi-million peso dredging project in Tanjay City cannot start, according to Oscar Magallones, provincial environment and natural resources officer in Negros Oriental.

Magallones was among those invited to the special session of the Tanjay City Council last Tuesday to shed light on the project, which many sector claimed to be a cover-up only for magnetite, or black sand (margaja), mining.

The project has already became "viral" in social media sites with individuals and groups expressing their opposition to it, citing apprehensions on the negative impacts it will have on the environment and the residents.

Magallones said dredging as well as quarrying and mining for mineral ores, either large or small scale, must go through the proper procedures as mandated by law.

Small-scale dredging, quarrying and mining activities only need a permit from the PMRB and the governor's office, while industrial and large-scale operations, such as using heavy equipment, will require permits from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau or the national government, said Magallones, adding that mining and dredging are different activities.

Magallones clarified that an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) issued for the dredging project cannot be used in the extraction of mineral resources, more so in transporting the extracted materials to a designated area. 

An ECC for any activity within the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape requires the endorsement from the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), headed by DENR-7 regional director Isabelo Montejo, he said.

The controversy over the proposed dredging in Tanjay City surfaced after Sino-Italy Construction Philippines Inc., the project contractor, began moving in heavy equipment and other logistics to a private holding area in Poblacion Barangay 4 at a coastal area near the mouth of Tanjay River several weeks ago.

The dredging project-under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the Tanjay City government and the  Bacolod City-based Sino-Italy sometime last Mayis designed to remove heavy siltation off Tanjay River, its estuaries and part of the adjacent coastline to prevent flooding, said city administration officials.

City Legal Officer Arnel Vivar, also the city administrator, said Sino-Italy offered to undertake the dredging, at no cost to the city government, of at least 19.5 hectares of heavily silted area at the mouth of the river and along the shoreline, but the opposition said it was purposely measured not to reach 20 hectares to avoid being deemed a large scale activity.

The MOU meanwhile stipulated that in exchange for the "free" dredging, the contractor can extract as much as 15 million cubic meters of dredged materials from which they can filter out the magnetite. The waste material, for its part, will be used for a 30-hectare reclamation project of the Tanjay City port.

Magallones, who admitted it was his first time to hear about this proposed project, cautioned that dredging, extraction and transport of dredged materials, as well as the rehabilitation of the city port, are operations that need separate permits from various agencies and offices.

He said the dredging project is a "noble" undertaking to prevent future flooding in Tanjay City but it has to be addressed with utmost caution.

Sino-Italy's lawyer Rayfrando Diaz II, who also attended the session, lamented over allegations that the dredging project was anti-environment and even illegal. He appealed to the City Council to look at the facts first and see if the project is good for Tanjayanons.

"We came here because of your invitation," he said, referring to the previous council that gave Mayor Lawrence Teves the authority to enter into an MOU with Sino-Italy. "We are pro-environment," he said.

Diaz said the LGU could not afford the cost of dredging so Sino-Italy came to the rescue with endorsements from the Barangay Council, the City Council and the City Risk Reduction Management Council. He said that, while dredging services are free, Sino-Italy is legally bound to dispose at least 15 million metric tons of dredged materials, which are deemed excess and unneeded items, to recover the firm's expenses.

Diaz assured it will dredge only in accordance with the dredging plan designed and approved by the city engineers office of Tanjay and the DPWH, and will not go beyond what is stipulated in the MOU.  (FREEMAN)