The suspension of quarry operations in the Philippines could worsen the inflation rate in the country, Senator Francis Escudero said Wednesday.
He said a plan by the Environment department to temporarily suspend quarrying in eight regions would only undermine the government’s efforts to bring down inflation.
“Amid the government’s efforts to control inflation, here is a policy decision from one agency that will erase whatever little gains they have achieved at reining it in,” Escudero said.
He warned the government on the effects of the department’s move on commodity prices, particularly construction materials, as it could harm the administration’s infrastructure spending project under the “Build, Build, Build” program.
“The basic problem is this will have inflationary tendencies on cement and aggregates, and will impinge upon the administration’s Build, Build, Build project, not to mention that it’s sweeping and clearly arbitrary,” Escudero said.
On Sept. 21, the Environment department released a memorandum suspending quarrying in Regions I, III, CALABARZON, V, VII, X, XI and XIII following the landslides in Itogon, Benguet, and Naga City in Cebu, which have so far left 78 and 56 people dead, respectively.
The department also ordered its regional offices to conduct an immediate assessment of the communities near the mining and quarrying areas to prevent a repeat of the deadly landslides.
The department said the result of the safety evaluation would be the basis for lifting the temporary suspension.
Instead of hastily stopping the quarrying in all eight regions, Escudero said, the department should have conducted the safety and geohazard evaluation first since it had already granted these mining and quarrying companies their operating permits.
He also urged the department to address the problem as soon as possible by adding more teams that would inspect the hundreds of quarrying sites all over the country.
Escudero also warned the public of the domino effect spawned by the possible shortage in construction materials, especially cement, as a result of the department’s suspension order.
