Vibro plant ready for assembly. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
CLARK FREEPORT – After a hill was almost levelled by an illegal quarry site extracting red soil at the Sacobia area here, an illegal vibro plant used to process sand is now under construction in a nearby area.
The vibro plant is located at the Sacobia River in Barangay Calumpang, Mabalacat City which is part of the ancestral domain of Aetas and covered by the Clark special economic zone. Documents obtained by Punto! showed a log book entry made by Patrolman Jose Esguerra, on duty at the Sacobia Gate also known as Negrito
Gate, for four 40- foot container vans on trucks with plate numbers RED 562, RBN 671, RGN 974, and RGR 803
exiting the gate on November 12 “per bravo fox.”
Bravo Foxtrot is reportedly the call sign of the Clark Development Corp. Public Safety Department (CDC-PSD)
Manager Gen. Ricardo C. Banayat (Ret.). His call sign appearing in the log book means that Banayat himself authorized the activity, a source told Punto!.
The container vans were reportedly carrying conveyor belts and other parts needed for the building of the vibro plant which when finished could process sand and gravel needed for construction.
CDC unaware?
But the CDC seemed to have been caught unaware by the construction of the vibro plant as well as the reported illegal quarrying activities at the Sacobia area which has been going on for two weeks before it was
allegedly closed.
CDC Environment Manager Juan Miguel Fuentes said on Wednesday that he ordered the immediate closure
of the soil extraction in the Sacobia area as soon as he got wind of the illegal activity last Friday.
Yesterday, Fuentes in text message to this reporter denied knowledge of any vibro plant being constructed in the area. Fuentes said the persons that were extracting the quarry materials initially showed a “desilting permit” from Mabalacat City when they were told to stop their activity.
Neither Mabalacat City Administrator Rosan Pacquia nor City Budget Officer Roger Tanglao can be reached yesterday for their comment with their mobile phones both unattended. Calls to Mayor Marino Morales were also
responded with unattended vocal messages.
It was not known if Morales has returned from Macau where he was during the weekend of the Paquiao-Rios fight. Earlier, Engr. Rey Cruz of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau denied any knowledge of quarrying permitted in the area.
Pangasinan passed off
Meanwhile, a “temporary gate pass” dated October 30 signed by Assistant Manager for Administration Sonny
Cirjuales for Banayat authorized the entry and exit to and from the Main Gate and Mabalacat Gate nine dump trucks – RDL 596, CTN 509, XHP 535, RHG 326, BDC 390, RHD 915, RHC 505, RGT 274, and RKF 644 – owned by Marjes Enterprises, a supplier of Clark locators Multi-tek, Midori Hotel, Yokohama Tire Philippines, Inc., and MSK.
The authorization is labelled “For strict compliance” and is valid from November 5 to December 5, 2013 from the
province of Pangasinan to this freeport. Another “temporary gate pass” dated November 5 authorized the entry
to and from the Main Gate and Mabalacat Gate three more dump trucks owned by Marjes Enterprises – THL 766, RMX 184, and RNB 324 – from Pangasinan to this freeport.
But this time, it was signed by Assistant Manager for Operations Robin Cenzon for Banayat. The red soil is supposed to be imported from Pangasinan – on record, but is actually illegally extracted from a nearby site at the Sacobia area, only some two kilometers from the Midori Hotel which is now undergoing construction.
The Midori Hotel is a P2 billion, six-storey, 120-room 5-star category hotel when finished and is owned by Taiwanese businessmen Jack Yam and Tony Huang and their local partner Irineo “Bong” Alvaro.
The three are also the owners of BB International Leisure and Resort Development Corp. (BBI) now constructing a multi-billion water theme park project here, the Clark Valley View Leisure and Resort located at Gate 14 at the northwestern section of this freeport.
Environmentalists have branded the water theme park project as a “hazard to the Clark watershed” while Aeta tribes denounced its alleged encroachment into their ancestral domain. Calls to Alvaro for the side of his company have not been returned. Unconfirmed reports said he was with Morales in Macau.
