Quarry (2). n., pl – ries. An open excavation or pit from which stone is obtained by digging, cutting or blasting. – tr.v. quarried, -rying, -ries. 1. To cut, dig, blast or otherwise obtain (stone) from a quarry. 2 To use land as a quarry. (Middle English quarey, quarere from Old French quarriere from quarre (unattested), “square stone” from Latin quadras, square.
The lexicographic defi nitions of the word quarry – the Grolier International Dictionary used here – are too clear for any misunderstanding. (What? No mention of sand in the definition? Well, sand, along with marble, mayhaps only came later to join stone as materials being quarried.)
Well-defined as it is, still – in Pampanga – the word quarry has assumed myriad connotations and varied denotations well outside the parameters of its dictionary meaning.
It was not so long ago that the word quarry meant all of these things: some tracts of lands and fishponds, some choice lots in premier subdivisions, condo units along Manila Bay, and the heart of a Mutya ning Kapampangan finalist.
In that same period, quarry assumed the synonyms of top-of-the-line sports-utility vehicles like Lincoln Navigators and Humvee 2s, luxurious S-type Mercedes Benzes and 7-series BMWs. Forget the Pajeros, they were for pesantes. The Patrols, to the bodyguards as back-up vehicles.
Still then too, quarry connoted grand palaces and stately mansions sprouting in rustic Porac.
Ah, those attributions were well within our first dictionary entry of the word: “object of pursuit.” The pursuers making prey of the collection pot for their own ends.
In our common understanding, quarry meant digging. For sand, that is. Still, misunderstanding persists.
Again, an instance in the recent past.
Threatened with suspension over the reported indiscriminate quarrying in his town, my once favorite mayor rolled his Rs in his spirited defense that: “There is no quarrying in Mexico. There is only the scraping of lahar from private agricultural lands in pursuit of our noble objective to make them arable again for greater productivity and prosperity of our people.”
Only scraping and not quarrying? Even when the lahar scraped was used as pantambak (filling materials) to the pinak (marshland) atop which SM City Pampanga rose?
One month after Eddie T. Panlilio took his seat at the Capitol, quarry assumed the definition of P1-million per day. And at the same time confirmed the earlier definition of quarry as unexplained wealth and plunder.
So we are now all agreed on all that the Q word stands for? Not yet… SO, WE wrote here on October 10, 2007 under the title Defining ‘Q’ with the ending: Truly, quarry is a very dynamic word.
Indeed, as the “miracle” that was the Reverend Governor’s P611.1 million collections in his single term made nonfeasance, if not malfeasance, out of the Lapid father and son’s 11 years combine of P115.6 million.
The miracle going mega with Gov. Lilia G. Pineda’s P799.2 million quarry revenues in only her first term, already exceeding P2 billion, and still counting, a year into her last term.
For all the connotations and denotations of beneficence, transparency, efficient collection, and good governance it evokes under the Pineda administration, quarry has reassumed its materialistic, morally challenged “object of pursuit” meaning.
At the Capitol only last Monday, much of the governor’s time was squandered by interests not even, strictly speaking, within the ambit of her responsibilities – quarry operations at the Clark Freeport, which as everyone knows is a distinct republic separate from Pampanga.
Even as the arguments among an ex- exlocal official, an Aeta leader, and a champion of marginalized groups on one side, and a Clark “locator” engaged in vibro sand-processing on the other centered on an ingress-egress blockade issue, the drift went well beyond it.
Piecing what was said before the Gov with what we have long been hearing, the bigger picture of quarrying in Clark comes as a turf war between rival indigenous tribes, compounded by “outsiders” comprising of a merry mix of former local officials and police officers, selfserving crusaders, and plain hustlers. All for that which gave the Capitol no less than millionpeso- a-day pay dirt. No pun intended.
Already dire at this stage, the situation is further complexed with the leadership crisis currently obtaining at the Clark Development Corp. which, in the first place, holds the authority over the area.
With stakes high as these, the situation can easily turn ugly. Even uglier than in the elder Lapid’s time when the sands of Passig-Potrero were drenched in blood.
So, what has the governor to do? Call the CDC OIC who is at the same time the chair of the Bases Conversion Development Authority to impress upon him the gravity of the situation and strongly suggest that the usual ingress-egress be immediately opened to all, with a police contingent deployed in the area meanwhile to keep the peace.
Yes, quarry is a dynamic word.
