Cabatuan, Isabela—Gov. Rodito T. Albano III has ordered mandatory rehabilitation of portions of the Cagayan River which were turned into quarry sites in Cabatuan town.
Executive Order (EO) No. 01 series of 2023 was recently issued to all stakeholders including Cabatuan Mayor Bernardo A. Garcia Jr., Isabela Police Provincial Office (IPPO), Environment Natural Resources Office (Isabela ENRO) and respective officials on all concerned barangays citing the unregulated quarrying that has been done since 2014 leading to several drowning incidents.
EO No. 01 also placed the entire municipality in a quarry moratorium.
Section 1 of the EO consists of the declaration of the cease and desist order to all quarry operations by the Provincial Government of Isabela, which would take over any and all existing quarry operations to give way to the immediate rehabilitation and desilting of Cagayan River.
“The suspension of quarry permits is tantamount to no quarry permit, thus, failure to comply with this EO shall be considered and proceeded as violation and may cause the permanent revocation of the quarry permit,” Albano, in a statement, said
Further, the moratorium/suspension shall remain valid and effective pending the outcome of the rehabilitation and desilting activities.
The quarry moratorium stemmed from the letter of Garcia to DENR-MGB Regional Director, Engr. Mario Ancheta expressing the immensely dismal state of the quarry sites within the municipality due to unregulated quarrying activities and the unrehabilitated state of the riverbeds and riverbanks.
In response, the ENRO thru the command of Albano conducted ocular and drone inspections on the quarry sites.
The quarry operations need to be halted within the areas of concern and the sites need rehabilitation because of erosion from the riverbanks according to the ENRO report submitted to Albano.
The unregulated quarrying is in direct violation of Provincial Ordinance No. 05 series of 2014 stating among others; the regulated extraction, disposition, utilization, processing of quarry and other mineral resources within the territorial jurisdiction of Isabela.
Moreover, there is an ongoing desilting program for river tributaries in the Cagayan River within the province and likewise the re-assessment of present conditions on all quarry sites and geo-hazard zones.
“I am calling on all mayors and the Isabela Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO) Desiltation and Rehabilitation Team to closely coordinate with the Isabela Police Provincial Office, National Government Agencies and respective officials of all concerned barangays for the proper implementation of this order,” Albano said.