Illegal Quarrying In Pampanga, 30 Individuals Arrested

Thirty People, Including Three Chinese Nationals, Arrested For An Illegal Quarrying In Porac, Pampanga

ILLEGAL QUARRYING – The NBI recently arrested thirty individuals, including three Chinese nationals, for an illegal quarrying in Porac, Pampanga.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), in collaboration with the  Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), also seized heavy equipment, tools, conveyances and extracted minerals, which worth almost a billion pesos in an operation in Barangay Manuali on November 28.

The Barangay chairman and three Chinese nationals were also included in the thirty individuals, who will also face charges for theft of minerals under the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and for unauthorized and unlawful intrusion under the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997.

ILLEGAL QUARRYING
Photo uplifted from: GMA Network

A report in GMA News states that some of the arrested were identified as  Anson Tanglao and one Chinese national Leong Sek I, who were owners of owners of Tag Mineral Resources, Inc.; and some were employees of Ryan Clarete, the barangay chairman of Manuali and also the manger of LAC Quarry, in which, along with the firm’s purported owner/operator, Chinese national Mou Ke, were tagged in a complaint.

The NBI will also investigate further regarding the owners and board of directors of Clarete’s and Tag Mineral Resources, Inc., in which they will be possibly filed for the same charges against them.

As per the report, the confiscated items from two mineral processing plants and quarry sites are temporarily in the custody of the barangay. The NBI operation was based on the complaints from the indigenous people, including Aetas, via the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, about quarrying activities in their ancestral land without their consent.

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