Apo Cement: No quarrying, just site development

AN OFFICIAL of the Apo-Cemex Corporation, whose collapsed quarry caused a landslide that claimed 25 people and injured seven in Barangay Tinaan, City of Naga, last Thursday, September 20, admitted they were conducting earth moving there just weeks before the incident happened.

The statement came as city officials of Naga have ordered Apo-Cemex and other mining companies to stop their operations pending a review from national goverment agencies.

In a press conference held Friday, September 21, Chito Maniago, Apo-Cemex representative, said that based on their initial investigation, they found that their personnel were conducting “site development” in Sitio Tagaytay.

But he denied that there was quarrying in the area.

However, residents claim that quarrying operations are being conducted in their area.

John Rey Lapitan, a resident of Sitio Tagaytay in Barangay Tinaan, showed SunStar Cebu photos of the cracks they found near their home that grew wider within a span of three weeks before the landslide on Thursday, September 20.

Lapitan and his siblings said Apo-Cemex Corporation, which owns the quarry near their home, is lying when they denied the quarrying operations in the area.

Lapitan said that weeks before the