ANGELES CITY – Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan ordered yesterday a total halt to lahar sand quarrying in this city, including parts of Clark freeport, after three children drowned in one of the ponds created by such operations at the Sacobia river in Barangay Margot here last Wednesday.
City information officer Deo Sambilay identified the children as Mary Grace Salado, 11; her brother Ruzzel John, 9; and Adrian Jerome Suba, 10.
City police chief Senior Supt. Rodolfo Rocomono said the three children went to swim at the quarry site at about 2 p.m. Wednesday but they drowned.
Sambilay said the children apparently did now know that the quarrying excavation they dove into was as deep as 11 feet.
“The water in it accumulated from recent rains and its depth was not visible from the surface,” he noted.
Witnesses pointed to the quarry pond after worried parents sought for them in the area. The bodies of the victims were fished out before dusk.
Sambilay said Pamintuan’s order to stop quarrying activities also came in the wake of reports that some quarrying operations along the Sacobia river, particularly those within the jurisdiction of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) which runs the Clark freeport, are unregulated.
Permits for quarrying in five hectares or less are issued by mayors while those covering more areas are under the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
There have been nagging reports that an official of the CDC has been profitting from quarrying operations in the Sacobia area, prompting Pamintuan to issue a directive stressing that even areas within Clark are covered by his directive.
City information officer Deo Sambilay identified the children as Mary Grace Salado, 11; her brother Ruzzel John, 9; and Adrian Jerome Suba, 10.
City police chief Senior Supt. Rodolfo Rocomono said the three children went to swim at the quarry site at about 2 p.m. Wednesday but they drowned.
Sambilay said the children apparently did now know that the quarrying excavation they dove into was as deep as 11 feet.
“The water in it accumulated from recent rains and its depth was not visible from the surface,” he noted.
Witnesses pointed to the quarry pond after worried parents sought for them in the area. The bodies of the victims were fished out before dusk.
Sambilay said Pamintuan’s order to stop quarrying activities also came in the wake of reports that some quarrying operations along the Sacobia river, particularly those within the jurisdiction of the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) which runs the Clark freeport, are unregulated.
Permits for quarrying in five hectares or less are issued by mayors while those covering more areas are under the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
There have been nagging reports that an official of the CDC has been profitting from quarrying operations in the Sacobia area, prompting Pamintuan to issue a directive stressing that even areas within Clark are covered by his directive.
