DENR welcomes cease and desist order vs. 2 firms in Manila Bay 'beautification'

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Wednesday welcomed the issuance of a cease and desist order by the Cebu provincial government on the extraction and sale of the dolomite used in the Manila Bay beautification project.

Interviewed on Dobol B sa News TV, DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said the order will give the provincial government a chance to probe the transaction between the contractor and the mining firm involved in the extraction and sale of the dolomite.

"We welcome the move of the governor because first of all this will give them a chance to look into this problem," Antiporda said. "This is the internal problem of their business in Cebu."

Covered by the cease and desist order signed by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia on September 8 are the Dolomite Mining Corporation (DMC) and the Philippine Mining Service Corporation (PMSC).

According to the order, DMC was granted a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) to extract dolomite from the municipality of Alcoy.

DMC then sold the extracted dolomite to PMSC, which was allowed by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to transport a total of seven wet metric tons of dolomite to Manila for the beautification project.

However, according to Garcia in her executive order, the provincial government of Cebu and that of the municipality of Alcoy were not informed of the beautification project. She also said there was no public consultation for the transport from Cebu to Manila.

Antiporda said the DENR, which is implementing the Manila Bay project, is not involved in the transaction.

"We are not in any way connected with this transaction of the contractor with the mining company," he said.

He also said they would let the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Region 7, which allowed the transport of the dolomite, to answer the alleged health risks posed by the extraction.

"Talking in behalf of MGB-7... ano man po yung mga environmental concerns ng Region 7 eh sila po ang sasagot," he said, adding MGB-7 has been instructed to cooperate in the investigation being conducted by the government of Cebu province. —KBK, GMA News