The provincial government of La Union has issued an order to shut down illegal quarry operations along Aringay River in Tubao in violation of national laws and provincial ordinances.
In a letter dated September 23, 2021, the provincial government asked a certain Edelberto C. Garcia “to cease and desist your extraction activities outside the applied area.”
“Failure to do so, much to our regret, shall constrain us to endorse the matter for appropriate action to the Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board,” the letter stated.
The alleged illegal quarrying in Tubao was discovered after the provincial government received a report of an operation along Aringay River in Tubao.
Based on the forwarded pictures from a concerned citizen, the operation was allegedly undertaken by Garcia in Barangay Leones East, Tubao.
Garcia has an ongoing application of renewal of his industrial sand and gravel permit in La Union.
The provincial government, together with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR-MGB) Region 1, conducted a joint investigation in the area on September 14, 2021.
Personnel from DENR-MGB RO1 gathered global positioning system readings on the location of the extraction activities and based on the plotting, the extraction site was found to be outside the applied permit area of Garcia.
They subsequently submitted recommendations through a memorandum dated September 17, 2021, stating that Garcia was operating outside his permitted area.
The environment officials recommended that Garcia stop his operation, rehabilitate the area where he extracted the sand outside his area, and pay the penalty for violating Article 9, Section 2A of Provincial Ordinance 274-2021.
They also asked the local government unit of Tubao to monitor extraction along Aringay River to avoid illegal operation and extraction activities.
Shutting down Garcia’s illegal quarry operations is in line with La Union’s Anti-Illegal Quarrying Task Force.
The task force was formed to inspect quarry operations, validate information, conduct investigation, monitor all reported illegal mining and quarrying operations, and set up necessary checkpoints and monitoring stations in the province.