Davao City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) assured that strict monitoring by agencies concerned can prevent excessive and irresponsible quarrying in the city, countering concerns raised by the city council.
Approval of about a hundred quarry applications, most of which are located along riverbanks, for additional allowable use took place under committee on environment chair Diosdado Mahipus December last year.
This prompted some city councilors to worry about excessive quarrying that may cause long-term effects on the environment of Davao City.
CPDO head Ivan Cortez, however, said in an article published by SunStar Davao that there is a reason why these operations along riverbanks were allowed.
“Because in the riverbanks, there is constant supply due to erosion that happens from stones going to the river and which causes it to widen. There is a purpose why we allow those along the riverbanks,” Cortez said.
Cortez also reminded that strict monitoring by environment agencies headed by the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) is essential in saving rivers’ filtration processes from being compromised by making sure overquarrying will not occur.
Meanwhile, the Local Zoning Board of the city has already been requesting a consolidated list of quarrying applications from CENRO. This requested list will indicate those with existing permits and those applying for new ones.
“We need to find where they are in the map to avoid conflict in the future. And also for proper monitoring,” Cortez said explaining the importance of the said list.
CPDO discontinued application process for quarrying operations in 2015 due to the need for them to finalize terms of references for application process until it was resumed last December of 2018.
