Gov. Gwen Garcia personally appeared at the RTC Branch 9 in Cebu City and spoke, with the permission of Presiding Judge Alexander Acosta, in defense of the thousands of residents who are living within the boundaries of the quarry sites in the City of Naga.
In this regard, Gov. Garcia, though not a lawyer, was lawyering for and in behalf of the Nagahanons whose lives are in constant peril if Apo Land and Quarry Corp. (ALQC) would be allowed to operate in the same manner that it is operating now.
“I ask of this honorable court: help me in protecting existing communities near the quarry sites. They have no voice. Who will stand up for them?” Gov. Garcia said.
The Governor’s speech was a full-blown rationale why she issued Executive Order No. 22 series of 2024 which orders ALQC to cease and desist from all “earth-moving operations” within all its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) areas in City of Naga for one month, starting December 3.
An MPSA is a contract between the government and a mining operator, granting the latter the right to explore, develop, and utilize mineral resources in exchange for a share of production profits. As of the moment, ALQC has eight MPSAs issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) covering over 3,000 hectares of land that traverses the boundaries of Naga, San Fernando, Carcar City, and Pinamungajan.
The Governor was summoned to court after ALQC, supplier of quarry materials to cement manufacturing plant Cemex Philippines, filed a petition for a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) and a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction against the Governor’s EO for “grave and irreparable injury” suffered by ALQC by the cessation of quarry operations.
But at the end of the Governor’s impassioned and purpose-driven speech, the counsel of ALQC told the judge that they were withdrawing their petition. Judge Acosta then dismissed their case.
As defendant in the action, Gov. Garcia asked the court to be allowed to speak freely. The counsel for ALQC did not object, and so the Governor was given the floor. She spoke convincingly for over 25 minutes, with the opposing counsel nodding in approval through most of the salient points that she raised or highlighted.
𝗚𝗢𝗩. 𝗚𝗪𝗘𝗡’𝗦𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗘𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗧
The Governor began by narrating how the 2018 landslide that killed 77 people and buried several homes, not to mention the several others who went missing, happened within the MPSA area of ALQC in Tinaan, City of Naga. In its official report, MGB summarily dismissed it as mere natural disaster caused by movement of the earth.
The MGB reported that an active fault line is located just five kilometers from the MPSA area where the landslide happened. It was caused by a strong earthquake that hit Cebu sometime in 2013, the MGB added. Moreover, they also found out that there are subterranean ponds within the MPSA area, which is the reason why the soil there is loose and prone to collapse.
The Governor lamented, however, at the seeming exoneration by MGB of the quarry operations of ALQC in the official reports. She could not shake the fact that the heavy machinery operations of the quarry could have caused the tremors that eventually caused the landslide.
It was in this context that Gov. Garcia issued the subject EO, as she did not want another tragedy to take place after it was found out that ALQC operated in an “apparent disregard” of the safety of inhabitants living within or near the said MPSA areas.
“Who is to say that another tragedy would not happen?” the Governor asked.
It was found out that ALQC was able to secure another MPSA in 2018 during the previous administration in an area that was already densely populated.
The EO also mandates ALQC to cooperate in the conduct of an environmental audit, comprehensive area risk assessment, and the determination of the carrying capacity of the MPSA areas while they cease operations for the next 30 days.
Gov. Garcia had always wanted to sit down with the top management of ALQC and discuss mutually beneficial solutions. That was why she felt betrayed at the apparent “bad faith” of ALQC in filing the suit against her EO when both camps are already talking.
One of the suggestions that she strongly lobbied was the definition of buffer zones that prescribes for a certain distance from communities where ALQC may be allowed to carry out operations.
“I wish to create a business-friendly environment in Cebu, but not at the expense of my people,” she said. | IPA
