Groups Back Stoppage of Quarrying Operations in Rizal, Push for the Protection of the Sierra Madre to Avert Floods and Landslides

Environmental conservation and protection groups welcomed the government’s plan to stop quarrying operations in Rizal province following the destructive flooding in Marikina City and other areas brought about by intense torrential monsoon rains.

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu on Monday ordered to suspend quarrying activities in Rodriguez and San Mateo after Ondoy-like floods hit these disaster-prone towns in Rizal and the nearby city of Marikina whose chief executive Mayor Marcelino Teodoro  on Wednesday appealed for the revocation, not mere suspension, of quarrying permits in upstream communities to prevent floods and landslides.

“We have again witnessed nature’s wrath as raging waters damaged homes and besieged communities with mud and garbage.  The Ondoy-like tragedy came as no surprise given the steady obliteration of the Marikina watershed and the Sierra Madre by quarrying and other detrimental activities such as waste dumping,” observed Noli Abinales, Chairperson, Buklod Tao, a community group in San Mateo.

“Stopping quarrying operations is a critical policy that has to be enforced.  This has to be supplemented by other measures that will disallow reckless land conversion that is eating up farms and forests in this bastion of biodiversity," he said. 

"Ang kabundukan ng Sierra Madre ay hindi dapat tinitibag, minimina, tinotroso o tinatambakan ng basura lalo't hindi ito dapat gawing pamayanan ng mga dayong di katutubo upang mapanatili ang balanse ng kalikasan.  Ang mga burak, putik at mga kahoy na rumagasa mula sa kabundukan na nagpalubog sa mga kabayanan ng Rizal, Bulacan at Metro Manila ay isa muling paala-ala ng ating kawalang pitagan sa Sierra Madre noong Ondoy 2009 na halos maulit ulit nitong mga nakaraang araw ng ulang Habagat," said Bro. Martin Francisco, Chairperson, Save Sierra Madre Environmental Institute (SSMEI).

Fr. Pete Montallana, Chairperson of the Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance (SSMNA), pressed for the protection of the fragile forests of the Sierra Madre to enable the biodiversity-rich mountain range to protect Luzon from severe weather disturbances.    

“Sierra Madre’s capacity to shield  our communities from storms, rains and floods has been weakened by damaging human activities.  To enable her to protect us, decisive action is needed to put an end to activities that defile and destroy the Sierra Madre such as the unchecked logging and quarrying, as well as projects that destroy the forest biodiversity and violate the indigenous people’s rights,” he said.

“We need to stop the logging, mining, quarrying and dumping activities in the Sierra Madre to save her from unabated destruction, which is the root cause of the damaging floods,” he emphasized.

Daniel Alejandre, Zero Waste Campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition, further emphasized the need to protect the Sierra Madre from garbage disposal activities that contribute to its environmental degradation.

"Waste prevention and reduction is very much needed to cut the volume of garbage sent to dumpsites and landfills that are regrettably sited in the Sierra Madre.  The enforcement of ecological solid waste management, as embodied in R.A. 9003, especially in cities and towns that haul their garbage to the Sierra Madre is essential if we are to stop its further degradation due to dumping, quarrying and other destructive activities," he said.

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