DENR suspends quarry, crushing plant ops of 11 companies in Rizal

The quarrying and crushing plant operations of several companies in Rizal have been suspended by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, its chief Roy Cimatu said Thursday.

During the Senate hearing conducted by the committee on environment on the protection and conservation of the country's forest cover, Cimatu made a run-down of the following firms whose Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSAs) had been temporarily suspended, effective December 2:

• MPSA No. 070-97-IV of Asencio-Pinzon Aggregates Corp. (APAC)
• MPSA No. 136-99-IV of San Rafael Development Corp. (SRDC)
• MPSA No. 239-2007-IV of Montalban Millex Aggregates Corp. (MMAC)
• MPSA No. 202-2004-IV of Hardrock Aggregates, Inc. (HAI)
• MPSA Nos. 064-96-IV, 075-97-IV and 088-97-IV of Rapid City Realty and Development Corporation (RCRDC)

Information from the DENR-Mines and Geosciences Bureau-Calabarzon's website showed that the Mineral Processing Permits of following had also been suspended:

• MPP No. 2017-002-IVA of Oxford Mines, Inc. (OMI);
• MPP No. 2018-001-IVA of Viba Aggregates & Marketing (VAM);
• MPP No. 2018-003-IVA of Amiterra Aggregates Corp. (AAC);
• MPP No. 2019-002-IVA of Dream Rock Resources Phils., Inc. (DRRPI);
• MPP No. 2019-003-IVA of Superior Aggregates, Inc.; and
• MPP No. 2020-001-IV of ATN Holdings, Inc. (AHI).

The operations of these companies are within the coverage of Marikina River Basin, which river system drains toward the Marikina River, according to the DENR-MGB Calabarzon.

Their permits shall remain suspended until the DENR's assessment is completed and after the cause of flooding in San Mateo and Rodriguez, Rizal and in Marikina City during Typhoon Ulysses on November 12, 2020 has been identified, it added. — BM, GMA News