“Those dime-a-dozen groups espouse advocacies that are not exactly grounded on scientific data and facts”
Don’t believe those civil society groups espousing environmental protection in Zambales.
Those dime-a-dozen groups espouse advocacies that are not exactly grounded on scientific data and facts.
For instance, their claim that dredging activities in Zambales cause soil erosion is untrue.
An inter-agency committee led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and composed of other agencies like the DPWH, DILG, and DoTr has belied their claims, citing official scientific data and studies by geoscientists who were involved in the study.
The Oct. 28, 2025 report for lawmakers prepared by the DENR Region-3 Office, said the civil society groups’ claim that dredging activities in three Zambales dredging sites in the Sto. Tomas, Maloma, and Bucao Rivers in the town of San Felipe in Zambales have been pursued mainly for purposes of river restoration and flood mitigation.
There was no intention to destroy the environment to cause soil erosion, as the environmental groups claim. The NGOs did not understand the environmental dynamics of the dredging sites.
The official report signed by Engr. Ralph Pablo, DENR Region-3 Executive Director, said the environmental impact study (EIS) which the DENR conducted in accordance with its order, concluded that soil erosion could be minimal—approximately -16.5 meters near the dredge pits.
“No finding of erosional occurrence that can be directly linked to the dredging activity has ever been reported in any of the monitoring activities performed by an inter-agency group on the matter,” the Pablo report said.
To implement the envisioned dredging activities in Zambales, an interagency group composed of the DENR, DPWH, DILG, and DoTR issued in 2019 the Joint Memorandum Circular 1 to provide procedural guidelines, where dredging involved commercial use of dredged materials.
The intention was to provide river restoration to the three river systems that have become heavily silted because of the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
Despite its advocacy of environmental protection, those civil society groups, the Pablo report said, failed to understand that the DAO 2019-13 “institutionalizes river dredging as part of a broader river restoration initiative” by restoring “the natural state of and flow of the heavily silted Bucao, Maloma, Sto. Tomas Rivers and to enhance their hydraulic capacity to mitigate flooding” in Zambales.
Hence, the assailed order seeks to protect and manage properly the use of sand and gravel in Zambales to improve water flow of its river systems and ensure the integrity of the various protective dikes and infrastructures, it said.
Moreover, an immediate implementation of a dredging plan that contains large scale dredging and desilting operations eliminates floods, the Pablo report said.
In brief, the dredging activity is officially classified as “river restoration and flood mitigation project” rather than “extractive mining,” the Pablo report clarified. Besides, the environment impact study on the dredging activity is also classified as an “environmentally critical project,” it said.
The Pablo report dismissed the proposal to convene a Multipartite Monitoring Team, saying the Zambales Inter-Agency Committee on River Restoration formed by DAO-2019-13 has conducted probes and monitoring on the dredging activities in Zambales.
It has issued suspension orders to seven operators. Dredging operations were being monitored twice a day to ensure operators’ compliance with the order, it said.
On the issue of Shuaful Resources’ dredging operations, the Pablo report said: “Shuaful resources Inc. is a legitimate dredging operator whose expertise [is] authorized under DAO 2019-13 to undertake river restoration activities along the heavily silted Sto. Tomas River draining San Felipe, Zambales.
The Inter-Agency Committee and the MMT regularly monitor the company’s activities for River Restoration to ensure full compliance of the dredging plan.”
Shuaful Resources is a permit holder to conduct marine sand dredging in the Sto. Tomas River, but it was heavily fined and suspended for committing infractions of its permit to mine.
The DENR has restored its permit to mine after making commitments to refrain from committing violations of its mining permits.
On the private groups’ call to repeal DAO 2019-13, the Pablo report said: “DAO 2019-13 remains the legal basis in regulating river restoration and dredging activities.
Administrative rules and regulations enjoy the presumption of regularity and shall remain in effect until declared otherwise by competent authority.
Nevertheless, the Department is currently revisiting the DAO to take into consideration all issues and concerns.”
In short, it is imperative to ignore the civil society organizations in Zambales all claiming to protect the environment since they are way out of line and unable to grasp the importance of science-based dredging operations in the province. (Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)
