Rosal bats for responsible, regulated quarry in Albay

By Cet Dematera

A regulated and responsible quarry operation is being pushed in Albay due to incessant reports that wanton sand, gravel and boulder quarrying and mining activities are going on at the foot and slopes of Mayon Volcano for a long time already.

Incoming Gov. Noel Rosal said appropriate measures are now underway to ensure that quarrying is being carried out without necessarily damaging the environment.

Although the guidelines are still being finalized, Rosal said that one of the stipulations is to impose curfew in the delivery of the quarried aggregates.

Rosal said the main purpose of the regulation is to ensure that quarry activities are not being abused and would continue to be beneficial to the stakeholders in the quarrying industry.

“We just want to put things in their proper order. That is our main purpose in this quarry regulation,” Rosal clarified.

This is Rosal’s obvious response to the complaints that trucks delivering the hauled materials during late nights or early mornings are disturbing the residents due to the noise created.

These delivery trucks are also damaging barangay roads due to their heavy loads, residents and concerned barangay officials said.

After typhoon Quinta dumped heavy rains over Albay in 2020, lahar cascaded down the slopes of Mayon Volcano and buried people and houses in Guinobatan, Albay.

The tragedy prompted the national government through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to stop all quarry operations in Albay.

Weeks after, quarrying resumed again except in Legazpi City where outgoing Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal did not lift the quarry ban.

Instead, Rosal told the quarry operators to write the DENR secretary to lift the ban.

“I told the operators and local officials to ask the DENR secretary to lift the ban. In the first place, it is DENR that stopped the quarry operations.”

Rosal’s stern refusal to allow quarrying in Legazpi City was one of the main reasons that prompted influential politicians and businessmen in Albay to join hands and remove Rosal as mayor.

But Rosal decided to file his certificate of candidacy eve of the last day of filing.

Rosal won by more than 230,000 votes against incumbent Gov. Al Francis Bichara.