Cagayan de Oro update 1: Quarrying stops

15 August 2007 (The Inquirer) – A follow-up to an earlier story about how quarrying at a hill site in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines was destroying archaeological material there. It seems that lobbyists have succesfully effected a halt in the quarrying works. However, there’s more to the story as we chall see later…

Cagayan de Oro, DoT eye stop to Huluga quarrying
By Maria Cecilia Rodriguez

The city government and the Department of Tourism regional office here expressed support for the preservation of the Huluga open site as a cultural and heritage site, which could lead to a permanent halt to the quarrying there.

In a dialogue with preservation advocates, Mayor Constantino Jaraula said he would personally ask the private landowners to stop the quarry.

“We are happy with the result of the dialogue,” said Antonio Montalvan of the Heritage Conservation Advocates, the group lobbying to preserve Huluga. He also said they would file a petition with the solicitor general to challenge the ownership of the site.

“We learned that 50 hectares of the land in Taguanao used to be public land and there were questions on how it was titled,” Montalvan said.

He said his group would lead the filing of petition to have the private titles declared null and void. “We expect the local government to support this move,” he said.

Catalino Chan, tourism regional director, said his office would support any move by the local government to convert Huluga as a cultural and heritage site.

“It can be a primary tourist destination here in Cagayan,” he said, citing the need for more efforts to preserve similar heritage sites in the region.

Cagayan de Oro City’s Huluga Site is one of the premier archaeological sites in the country, which could be reached by a kayak ride along the Cagayan river.