The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through its Environmental Law Enforcement and Protection Service arrested culprits in an anti-illegal quarrying operation at the Taal Volcano protected area.
The DENR won a case against illegal miners operating inside the protected area in Batangas last October.
Secretary Roy Cimatu said the miners who did the same illicit activities in the same area mean that “they remain unafraid of the environmental laws and their corresponding penalties.”
“These illegal quarrying operations cannot be stopped if we remain complacent with enforcement operations. This is the reason why the DENR has bolstered training for our enforcement personnel, and more reasons why the legislative arm of the government should expedite the Environmental Protection and Enforcement Bureau Bill,” he stressed. Rio N. Araja
Some 15 illegal miners, who were apprehended as a result of the DENR enforcement operations, are currently undergoing legal procedures in violation of Republic Act 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Area Systems Act of 2018, RA 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, Presidential Decree 705 or The Revised Forestry Reform
Code of the Philippines and RA 9275 or the Clean Water Act.
Confiscated during the operations were three backhoes, two screeners used to define and segregate the liberated and extracted sand and gravel materials, and a truck loaded with 127 board feet of round logs and 122.83 board feet of lumber. Rio N. Araja
