Fernandez said the difficulty lies in determining how the excise taxes and other fees are accounted for under Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Department Administrative Order (DAO) 13, series of 2019, which serves as the legal basis for the river rehabilitation project.
“But what Ebdane and the DENR are doing now is sand mining or commercial extraction of sand for reclamation projects, including the Bulacan International Airport of Ramon Ang,” she said.
“This is no longer a river restoration,” Fernandez pointed out.
Under DENR DAO 13, series of 2019, the DENR ordered river restoration through dredging in the heavily silted channels of the Bucao, Maloma and Santo Tomas rivers in Zambales. The order stated that the government will not fund private-sector dredging activities.
ZEN said the lack of government funding means there is no government auditing of the operations, despite the income generated from the extracted sand.
“So, why are they not stopping the dredging operations? It is because of greed. Ebdane earned P2 billion from 2023 to 2024 alone,” Fernandez said.
The network noted that only three vessels can fit at the mouth of the river, while others waiting in line at the mouth of the Santo Tomas River have also started dredging in the sea.
ZEN said it determines whether vessels are dredging by checking whether the machines beside them are operating to separate sand from water, with sand and water visibly circulating along the sides of the vessels.
“What they are taking has corresponding excise taxes, environmental fees, and extraction fees. The government does not spend anything on this operation,” she said.
“Technically, they are just selling the sand through taxation and fees,” the executive director added.
