CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — A community-based quarry cooperative here has finally been issued a special permit by the City Local Environment Office (Clenro) and won the bidding to supply the city of sand and gravel for the local government’s infrastructure projects.
Richard Villaver, one of the board members of Isla de Oro-Consolacion Cooperative, said the special permit requires the group to continue complying with the requirements set by Clenro to be given a “delivery receipt.”
They may, however, start supplying the city government with “Class A” black sand that they get from the riverbed of Cagayan River, he said.
“Wa pa ko naingnan pila ang bayad; mo renew man ang city matag tuig (I haven’t been told how much the won contract cost, but the city can renew the contract yearly),” he added.
The issuance of the special permit comes after several dialogues with Clenro, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Region 10, and the Environment Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for almost four years.
Villaver said in 2016 and 2017, their group wrote the Office of the President, asking to persuade local government officials to allow them to continue their small-scale operations.
“Sa una wala man kami gina badlong, gakuha raman mi’g balas diha sa suba (before, no one called our attention, we just get sand in the river),” he said.
Sand quarrying in Cagayan River has been the source of livelihood for Villaver, native of Barangay Consolacion, for the past 16 years.
Clenro’s head, engineer Armen Cuenca, said the existence of these local sand quarriers has no issues, but because of the DPWH’s order on river dredging operations for flood control, he advised the group to talk with the DPWH.
“Although the barangay gave a recommendation, I told them that the next step they would do is get clearance from the DPWH. I told them that we (Clenro) have no problem with them operating, only that they have to clarify with DPWH that their operations are done manually,” Cuenca explained.
He added the DPWH clearance is part of the requirements for the issuance of an official permit. (Nef Luczon/PNA)
