http://www.mb.com.ph/PROV2006072469973.html

MALOLOS CITY — Bulacan Governor Josefina M. de la Cruz is pressing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to finally scrap the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) granted to Rosemoor Mining and Development Corp. (RMDC) and end its marble quarrying operations inside the Biak-na-Bato National Park (BBNP).

RMDC’s concession is located in barangay Kalawakan, Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan.
De la Cruz said in her July 13, 2006 letter to DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes that simply suspending the MPSA of RMDC is not enough since the Supreme Court (SC) has already ruled with finality that the mining firm’s operations are void ab initio and must end immediately.
She is also batting for an end to mining operations in the province.

The SC’s First Division decided on March 30, 2004 to cancel the quarry license of RMDC in GR No. 149927.

De la Cruz stressed that merely suspending the MPSA would not suffice considering the devastation of the environment and the deleterious effects of quarrying operations on Sibul Springs in San Miguel, Bulacan.

She also blamed RMDC for the flashfloods that have been occurring in Biak-na-Bato, and eight children out on a picnic drowned when one such flashflood hit the area on September 12, 2004.
As early as February 5, 2004, she added, majority of Bulacan officials and non-government organizations (NGOs) met at the San Miguel Municipal Hall to act decisively against mining operations at BBNP.

De la Cruz presided over that meeting, where Reps. Lorna Silverio and Willy Sy Alvarado were also present, along with Mayor Buencamino and other NGO leaders, all of whom committed to oppose mining operations in BBNP.

The Bulacan governor has been spearheading the campaign to end the blasting of the hilly portions of BBNP, where RMDC secured an MPSA without the concurrence of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board), Sangguniang Bayan (SB) or even the barangay council.

RMDC’s quarry area covers 330.3062 hectares taken out of the 2,117 hectares declared as part of the BBNP under Proclamation No. 223 issued by President Quezon in November 1937. The company was allowed to mine in the area under Proclamation No. 2204 issued in 1982.

A year before, Dr. Lourdes S. Pascual swecured a prospecting permit from the then Bureau of Forest Development (BFD). Pascual later asigned her rights to the land to RMDC, which legitimized its operations through Quarry License No. 33 issued on August 3, 1982.

This same license was cancelled by then DENR Secretary Ernesto Maceda on September 6, 1986. Five long years passed before RMDC questioned the legality of the cancellation before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Quezon City.

On December 12, 2002, an MPSA was inked between then DENR Secretary Heherson Alvarez and Dr. Lourdes Pascual, the RMDC president.