SP probe sought anew on Airport quarry
The new Iloilo airport may be in full operation yet the issues surrounding quarry activities here during the construction period remains unresolved.
At least for one concerned resident of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo who elevated his request for legislative probe before the 9th Iloilo Sanggunian Panlalawigan (SP).
In a letter sent to Vice Governor Rolex Suplico, complainant is Agustin Sonza Jr. who was direct and blunt with his charge. The quarry operations, Sonza Jr. said, were “anomalous” particularly in the burrow pit in barangays Camambugan and Cadagmayan Norte of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.
As such, losses were incurred in the revenues due to the town with shares of the local government units (LGUs).
“The shares of the LGUs in said quarry tax were not monitored and collected because the (BMT’s) Barangay Monitoring Team as provided in the Provincial Quarry Ordinance of 2005 passed by this August Body was not formed or implemented by the Municipality of Sta. Barbara for reasons known only to them,” Sonza Jr. in his letter as obtained by The News Today (TNT) went.
Further still, Sonza Jr. charged that quarry operators allegedly in cahoots with Capitol officials falsified public documents.
These documents purportedly led to the issuance of quarry permits. Sonza Jr. has since lodged a criminal complaint before the Iloilo Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
“In 2006, I raised this issue before the Office of Governor Niel Tupas through the Provincial Legal Office. Nobody heard it,” Sonza Jr. lamented.
The SP probe he now seeks is also aimed at protecting the environment “….because it is only through good local governance that we can fully protect the environment from degradation and secure us from the Inconvenient Truth, which is Global Warming.”
“An old Indian Chieftain once said,” Not until the last tree in the forest is cut; not until the last river is polluted; not until the last fish is caught; only until then will they realized that we cannot eat money,” Sonza Jr. wrote. “With the passing Typhoon Frank, we realized that indeed we cannot eat money. And Evil will triumph when good men do nothing, thus your help is demanded in the name of good governance. This is the DEMAND OF THE TIME, NOW!”
Sonza Jr.’s request has been referred to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources chaired by Third District Board Member Mar Malones.