QUARRY NOTES NUMBER 4 REFERENCES

retains control of quarry industry

By Tonette Orejas
Inquirer News Service

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO-The provincial government of Pampanga has retained its control over the multimillion-peso quarry industry after a local court halted the implementation of a presidential order transferring control of the industry to the natural resources department.

The decision was a victory for the administration of Governor Manuel Lapid in the court dispute over the constitutionality of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Executive Order (EO) 224, which designated the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), a bureau under the DENR, as head of the provincial quarry task force.

EO 224, issued in July amid reports of irregularities in quarry operations and collections, sought to "rationalize the extraction and disposition of sand and gravel and other resources in Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales (provinces)."

Regional trial court judge Serafin David's writ of preliminary injunction to Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), noted the assertion of the provincial government of its right to exercise local autonomy under the 1991 Local Government Code.

It was the same code that Lapid invoked after then president Joseph Estrada placed the management of the industry and the collection of quarry taxes under the DENR's Natural Resources Development Corp. in January 1999.

".The existing right of the petitioner (provincial government) appears to have been threatened by the implementation of EO 224. (It will) thereby.cause irreparable injury, if not enjoined, as alleged by herein petitioner," the judge wrote. It was also David who issued a 20-day temporary restraining order in August.

Former provincial treasurer Jovito Sabado reported that almost 24 million pesos in quarry revenues was collected a year after the provincial government regained control of the industry in December 2001. There were no immediate available figures on monthly collections.

Barangay (village) leaders had, however, complained of delayed remittances in shares that comprised 40 percent of the 300-peso tax levied for every truck of sand hauled out of Pampanga.

The provincial board has looked into alleged collection anomalies since June but has not announced the findings of its investigation.

In the writ, David clarified, however, that the issue on whether EO 224 was constitutional or not was still pending.

The provincial government posted an injunction bond of 400,000 pesos on Sept. 1, provincial legal officer Filmer Abrajano said.

Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun earlier clarified that the supervision and collection tasks rested "primarily on the provincial government" with management exercised jointly.

Last month, the DENR and the MGB had completed the draft of EO 224's implementing rules and regulations.