TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Gov. Jocel C. Baac ordered law enforcers and environment officials to temporarily stop the hauling out of boulders and other mineral resources outside the province to allow the conduct of the required inventory of the available resources in the different parts of Kalinga.
Baac issued the directive to Kalinga Provincial Police Director Senior Superintendent Alfredo K. Dangani and Provincial Environment and Natural Resources officer Engr. Dominique Jude B. Sugguiyao effective immediately so that haulers will no longer be hauling out the province’s resources without paying the right taxes to the concerned local governments.
The governor based the issuance of the directive to the concerned agencies to Section 16, 17 and 465 of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local government Code of the Philippines which mandated the provincial government to exercise the powers and discharge the duties and functions which are expressly granted, those necessarily implied therefrom, as well as powers necessary, appropriate, or incidental for the efficient and effective governance, enforcement of forestry laws and the conservation, protection and preservation of the environment and other natural resources.
“There is a need to make an inventory of the permits issued, and to conduct an inquiry as to the legality of this specific issue because there are complaints about the hauling out of boulders outside the province,” Baac stressed.
Baac claimed that the local governments have been short-changed in the hauling out of the province’s boulders and other mineral resources because the haulers purchase the said materials from the local residents at very cheap prices and sell the same outside the province at very high prices aside from the fact that the haulers do not allegedly pay the right taxes to the local governments.
He said that his directive will remain in full force and effect until such time that it will be revoked or amended when he will be satisfied on the outcome of the required inventory among other actions that will be undertaken to conserve, protect and preserve the province’s rich resources.
Provincial Administrator Henry Gupaal also wrote separate letters to Senior Inspector Wiltz Conrad Agubo Sally, company commander of the Kalinga provincial Mobile Force Company, Inspector Francisco Bulwayan, Jr., chief of the Tabuk City Police office, Inspector Manuel M. Sabado, chief of the Rizal Municipal Police Station and Chief Inspector Jerry M. Costina, chief of the Pinukpuk Municipal Police Station, requesting the law enforcers implement Gov. Baac’s directive with dispatch to help in the government’s overall efforts to conserve, preserve and protect the environment and mineral resources from possible degradation in the future.
He said that the provincial government will closely monitor the implementation of the governor’s directive to make sure that unnecessary hauling out of the province’s boulders and mineral resources will be prevented until such time that appropriate actions shall have been put in place to minimize the effects of the extraction activities to the province’s state of environment in the future.
By HENT
