‘Suspension of quarry operations to worsen inflation’

The plan of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to suspend quarrying activities in eight regions will only undermine government efforts to manage the country’s high inflation, Sen. Francis Escudero warned yesterday.

“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 (inflation) in,” Escudero said in a statement.

He cautioned the government on the effects of the DENR’s move on the prices of commodities, particularly construction materials, as this may harm the administration’s massive 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’ projects, not to mention that it’s sweeping and clearly arbitrary,” he said.

Last Sept. 21, the DENR released a memorandum suspending quarrying operations in Regions I, III, Calabarzon, V, VII, X, XI and XIII, following the recent landslide incidents in Itogon, Benguet and Naga City, Cebu, which have so far left 78 and 56 people dead, respectively.

Furthermore, the agency directed its regional offices to conduct an immediate safety inspection and geohazard assessment of the communities near mining and quarrying operations in their area to prevent a repeat of similar landslide incidents.

According to the DENR, the result of the safety evaluation will be the basis for the lifting of the temporary suspension.

Instead of hastily stopping the quarrying activities in all eight regions, Escudero said the DENR should have conducted the safety and geohazard evaluation first, since these mining and quarrying companies have already been granted operating permits by the department.

He also urged the DENR to address the problem as soon as possible by adding more teams that will inspect hundreds of quarrying sites all over the country.

“They should form 50, 80, 100 or 200 inspection teams, and inspect everything in one week to find out which have violations and close them, instead of closing them all without inspecting them,” the senator said.

Escudero further cautioned the public on the domino effect spawned by the possible shortage in construction materials, especially cement, as a result of the DENR suspension order.

He also lamented the seeming lack of coordination among department heads, saying the economic managers always take the blame for the actions of their counterparts in other agencies.

Escudero also said while he fully understood the position of Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to prioritize the safety of the communities near the mining and quarry site, he must also strike a balance to mitigate the economic implications of his policies.