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The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) stressed on Friday that there have been no active black sand mining activities in this province in the last several months.
Cmdr. Euphraim Jayson Diciano, chief of the PCG station in Zambales, said the absence of black sand mining by any vessels was reported by their substations in the province, which were tasked with investigating the veracity of the report.
On Tuesday, Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad said they were keeping a tight watch over possible black sand mining in Zambales that was allegedly taken to and dumped in WPS for military purposes.
However, Diciano said that “all of the 12 substations reported not having the said activity within their area of responsibility based on the information they collected from local sources and site inspections.”
In a separate interview, Zambales Provincial Engineer Domingo Mariano said Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., also instructed concerned agencies to conduct an investigation into the report.
“We also called Trinidad and asked his source but he said it was not clear. It is hard to say that without validation, even the report of intelligence of PCG does not see any black sand mining activities,” Mariano said in a phone interview on Friday.
