http://www.mb.com.ph/PROV2006062767861.html

Environment Secretary Angelo T. Reyes said yesterday that the country can get the most from its supply of rare tea rose marble by manufacturing them into finished products, instead of exporting them as raw materials.

Reyes made the statement following a visit last week to a 330-hectare site in Barangay Biak na Bato where tea rose marble had previously been quarried.

Even in its raw form, the beauty of the rare marble astounded Reyes during his inspection of the quarry site located in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan.

“The marble at Biak Na Bato is precious. I went there the other day, and I saw the export quality of the boulders which is really a rarity… that is in demand abroad,” he said.

The chief of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said the Philippines can get better returns from the marble by having it processed by local industries.
The industries would generate badly needed jobs and taxes for the government, and spin off other economic activities in Bulacan and in other areas of the country, Reyes said.

“There should be processing. Hindi lang yung, we export raw material and that’s it. There should be more value added to the [raw tea rose marble] if we export finished goods,” he also said.

Reyes said the government’s final decision on the fate of Rosemoor Mining and Development Corp., the company conducting the quarrying of tea rose marble in Bulacan, will have to consider not only environmental issues but will also have to address an “economic question.”
“It’s an economic question. Some people will say this is precious and, therefore, we should conserve it. But we could say it’s available, we could earn income from it. What I’m saying is if we want to generate income from tea rose marble, we should generate more downstream industries,” he added.

At the quarry site, Reyes clarified that he had imposed a status quo order on Rosemoor, which meant that the company can continue transporting marble boulders under an ore transport permit (OTP) already granted it.

However, the DENR order stopping Rosemoor from quarrying new marble slabs, in effect since last March, remains standing, he said. The DENR has suspended quarrying in Biak Na Bato in response to questions raised over the project by environmentalists and local officials of Bulacan.
He said his status quo order did not nullify the OTP of Rosemoor, which covered the hauling of almost 800 cubic meters of marble boulders already carved from the mountains at Biak Na Bato. The OTP had been issued even before the suspension order on quarrying was issued by the DENR.

Reyes, which proceeded from Bulacan to Benguet, said a ruling on whether or not Rosemoor can resume its quarrying of tea rose marble is forthcoming.
“The committee which I formed to look into the quarrying operations would be coming out with a decision soon,” he said.