EFFECTS AND REPORTS ON QUARRYING IN RODRIGUEZ, RIZAL

The quarrying in the mountains of Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal has been ongoing since the 1990s. Today, it continues to show its effect on the people and the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. Reports and complaints from the residents of Montalban and Marikina city are still coming to this day. According to them, the mountain is being chipped away bit by bit by quarrying and mining companies and it affected the barangays and the environment.

One of the major quarrying areas is in San Isidro, Rodriguez, Rizal where they quarry blue rocks and turn them into aggregates. Many of the quarries in Rodriguez are mainly for the same product.

During typhoon Ondoy of 2009, the effects of quarrying and mining showed their effects on the people of Montalban, San Mateo, and Marikina. As we all know, landslides and flooding happened in these places causing deaths and major loss on livelihood to the people. The quarrying and mining were stopped after typhoon Ondoy. However, after the suspension, Mines and Geosciences Board (MGB) submitted a report that states 80% of the 180 hectares of the land that’s being quarried were allowed and permitted by the government. Through the years, the places surrounding the quarrying suffer from flooding and landslides.

The second major occurrence of the effect of this is during typhoon Ulysses on November 2020. Ilang-Ilang Quijano, a journalist from Bulatlat shared her story when she visited Kasiglahan Village in Montalban. She called the Sierra Madre “denuded and abused” by the over-quarrying that is happening in the mountain. She shared her story about the place that’s covered with mud and people flocking on relief operation trucks. Along with this was the comparison of her experience in her 2012 story and her Ulysses story in 2020. “In my 2012 story, it was the same disaster and the same lack of response. The only difference is that back then, I couldn’t remember so much mud”, Quijano said. In the same month, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) investigated the quarry operations in Rizal. They then suspended 11 quarrying and crushing firms in Rizal on the first week of December 2020. However, in February 2021, the quarry and crushing plants in Rizal were once again cleared to operate because of the decision released by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB). According to MGB, “With or without mining operations, flooding, erosion, and siltation will occur within the Marikina River Basin”. In their statement, MGB said that there are other causes such as natural erosion, rapid urbanization, deforestation of portions of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, and other disturbances caused the flooding.

The most recent report is on April 10, 2023, where 14 people were arrested for illegal quarry operations in Rodriguez, Rizal.

The fight against this environmental crisis is continuing to this day. And its effects will be felt for many more years. Reports and evidence in this issue must be upheld before the mountains and the people suffer more.

A petition to stop quarrying on the mountains of Rodriguez, Rizal is made on change.org. (Link: https://www.change.org/p/mayor-tom-hernandez-petition-to-stop-quarrying-on-themountains-of-rodriguez-rizal