A quarry operator may face criminal charges for allegedly using a tampered permit, that bears the signatures of Gov. Roel Degamo and provincial administrator Richard Enojo, to transport quarry materials outside Negros Oriental.

 

Enojo identified the operator as Alona Ator, daughter of Siaton Mayor Albert Ator, adding the permittee had successfully shipped one barge of sand on July 8, 2015 to an unverified destination, using the ore transport permit issued May 4, 2015, with control number 1500705.

Upon verification, the OTP had a tampered date of issuance which is June 24, 2015, and the same control number, and Enojo said this is a clear recycling of permits which is violative of existing laws.

On July 19, the permitee again tried to load 500 cubic meters of quarry materials to a barge “Supremo” bound for Tagbilaran, Bohol, with an OTP dated June 24 and control no. 1500706. The quarry materials were unloaded back to Siaton.

When traced, it has the name of Alona Ator, while further verification disclosed that said control number was issued to another permitee, identified as Aurora Bancairen of Looc, Sibulan. Based on records, Bancairen has applied for an extraction permit of only 160 cubic meters.

All these documents were traced to only one issuance which is May 4, with the same Official Receipt Number reflected in the records and bearing the signatures of Degamo and Enojo.

Enojo said he is personally thinking of filing a criminal complaint against Alona Ator for using his initials, and stressed “it’s not a matter of the amount but the principle behind (it)”. Aside from falsifying documents, the provincial government was deprived of fees in the July 8 shipment.

Degamo has already ordered the revocation of the permittee’s quarry permit, a copy of which was served July 24, to Ator.

Enojo cautioned quarry permittees in Negros Oriental that any attempt to tamper with or recycle transport permits, including delivery receipts, will be dealt with accordingly.

He added he is investigating reports by field personnel of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the province of a delivery receipt issued by the late Gov. Emilio Macias II, that was presented recently by a driver of a delivery truck loaded with quarry materials.*JG