CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Over P20 million a month without fail.
That is the quarry collections of the provincial government from January to August this year totalling to P165,630,000.
“The human factor, read: human lapses if not intentional errors, have been thoroughly checked, our collection system fine-tuned to a high level of efficiency – all these impacting to what is most likely the benchmark in the quarry income of the Capitol.” So said Engr. Art Punzalan, head of the environment and natural resources office
.
In his report to Gov. Lilia “Nanay Baby” Pineda, Punzalan noted that the quarry collection in the past eight months surpassed that of the same period last year – P119,385,000 – by P45,245,000.
“That effectively translates to over two months’ worth of collections already accruing this year,” Punzalan said.
14th month
“At the rate the collections are going, there indeed may be some sort of 14th month in quarry revenues when we close the books at the end of December,” an optimistic Punzalan added.
An ENRO quarry collection matrix itemized the monthly collection (in millions) to: P20.280 in January; P20.325, February; P21.780, March; P19.710, April; P23.175, May; P19.230, June; P20.595, July; and P20.265, August.
The “low” collections of “slightly below P20 million” in June was attributed by Punzalan to the series of typhoons and heavy rains that hit the country that month.
Since assuming office on July 1, 2010, the Pineda administration has – up to August 31, 2011 – collected a total of P284,745,000 in quarry revenues.
Lapid suspended
Dubbed as “Pampanga’s crown jewel,” quarrying has been a principal source of revenues for the Capitol, as well as an object of controversies, perceived anomalies, and court cases.
In 1999, then-governor, now Senator Manuel Lapid was suspended by the Ombudsman for six months following reported anomalies in the quarry collections discovered during a raid of quarry sites by the National Bureau of Investigation.
During the last term of Lapid as governor, he managed to collect a total of P24,298,000 in quarry taxes for the whole of 2002, and P10,275,000 for 2004.
On his turn at the governor’s desk, Lapid’s son Mark, now head of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, recorded collections of P10,530,000 in 2004; P38,505,000 in 2005; and P29,115,000 in 2006.
Panlilio’s ‘miracle’
In 2007, Pampanga witnessed the so-called “quarry miracle” when Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio, on his very first day in office managed to effect the collection of P1 million in quarry taxes, ending up with a total of P24,405,000 that July.
This was largely attributed to the formation of the Biyaya a Luluguran at Sisikapan (Balas) task force drawn from Panlilio’s campaign volunteers led by ex-seminarians from the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary.
The younger Lapid’s collection in his last month in office – June 2007 – was a measly P1,140,000 – equivalent to a day of Panlilio’s.
The suspended-priest-turned-governor closed 2007 with P128 million.
The “scandalous discrepancy” in the quarry collection totals between the Lapid and Panlilio administrations resulted to the latter filing a case against the former in the Office of the Ombudsman.
Panlilio further increased the quarry collections to P196,155,000 in 2008 and P203,640,000 in 2009.
This merited a national Gawad Galing Pook for the provincial government. Notwithstanding that the original quarrymen of Balas were by then into a camp-out at the Capitol grounds denouncing their “illegal dismissal.”
Pineda’s ascendancy at the governorship saw the “re-hiring” of the Balas core group that evolved into the Kalam – Kalas Kapampangan a Lulugud at Matapat – task force handling the quarry collection anew, this time though under the supervision of Punzalan’s ENRO.
Taking ‘Q’ higher
But for a few months in his first six months in office, the P1-million-a-day collection of Panlilio was a “gross exaggeration,” the actual daily average more at between P500,000 and P600,000.
In his last two months in office in 2010, the collection has gone so low – P9,255,000 in May and P13,695,000 in June – that suspicions of irregularities were raised against the administration that ran on the platform of a “moral crusade.”
The Pineda administration quickly arrested the decline, collecting some P2 million in a single day within its first week, and amassing a total of P23,505,000 in its first month.
The year 2010 ended with the Captiol richer by P211,065,000 from quarry revenues.
“If what Gov. Panlilio did with the quarry collection was a miracle, then how would you call Nanay Baby’s surpassing that amount?” asked Punzalan.
“It just goes to show that all it takes for a miracle to happen is a determined leader with a political will, infusing a commitment to serve among her co-workers and infecting them with her honesty and integrity,” Punzalan himself answered.
“The quarry collections reaching new highs is manifest of this.”
