CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – Governor Lilia Pineda on Monday confirmed that quarry operations in the province have resumed over the weekend.
Pineda thanked Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu for lifting the suspension order.
“We are happy and of course, we are thankful that Secretary Cimatu listened to our appeal not to include Pampanga in the suspension order. I even told the Secretary that Pampanga quarry is not hazardous and explained to him that we need to desilt our waterways to prevent flooding,” she added.
Quarrying is the top income generating industry in Pampanga. At least 3,000 to 5,000 trucks of sand are being transported from the province to other areas.
With the quarry suspension, the “Build, Build, Build” project of President Rodrigo Duterte at the New Green City in Capas, Tarlac was affected and construction in the area might be delayed as Pampanga is its source of sand, according to Pineda.
Almost 70 percent of Metro Manila also source sand from Pampanga.
A week ago, Cimatu suspended quarry operations in eight regions including Central Luzon, pending their safety assessment, shortly after a landslide occurred near a quarry site in Naga City, Cebu that killed at least 70 people.
“As I’ve said a while ago, Pampanga is not a landslide-prone area and there are no mining activities here,” Pineda said. ( Marna Dagumboy Del Rosario/PNA)
