QUARRY
(1). n., pl – ries. 1. A bird or animal hunted; prey; game. 2. Any object of
pursuit (Middle English querre,
entrails of a beast given to the hounds, from Old French cuiree, variant of co(u)ree,
from Late Latin corata, viscera, from
Latin cor, heart.
Quarry (2). n., pl – ries. An open excavation or pit from which stone is
obtained by digging, cutting or blasting. – tr.v. quarried, -rying, -ries. 1.
To cut, dig, blast or otherwise obtain (stone) from a quarry. 2 To use land as
a quarry. (Middle English quarey, quarere
from Old French quarriere from quarre (unattested), “square stone” from
Latin quadras, square.
The lexicographic definitions of the word quarry – the Grolier International Dictionary used here – are too clear for any misunderstanding. (What? No mention of sand in the definition? Well, sand, along with marble, mayhaps only came later to join stone as materials being quarried.)
Well-defined as it is, still – in Pampanga – the word quarry has assumed myriad connotations and varied denotations well outside the parameters of its dictionary meaning.
It was not so long ago that the word quarry meant all of these things: some tracts of lands and fishponds, some choice lots in premier subdivisions, condo units along Manila Bay, and the heart of a Mutya ning Kapampangan finalist.
In that same period, quarry assumed the synonyms of top-of-the-line sports-utility vehicles like Lincoln Navigators and Humvee 2s, luxurious S-type Mercedes Benzes and 7-series BMWs. Forget the Pajeros, they were for pesantes. The Patrols, to the bodyguards as back-up vehicles
Still then too, quarry connoted grand palaces and stately mansions sprouting in rustic Porac.
Ah, those attributions were well within our first dictionary entry of the word: “object of pursuit.” The pursuers making prey of the collection pot for their own ends.
In our common understanding, quarry meant digging. For sand, that is. Still, misunderstanding persists.
Again, an instance in the recent past.
Threatened with suspension over the reported indiscriminate quarrying in his town, my once favorite mayor rolled his Rs in his spirited defense that: “There is no quarrying in Mexico. There is only the scraping of lahar from private agricultural lands in pursuit of our noble objective to make them arable again for greater productivity and prosperity of our people.”
Only scraping and not quarrying? Even when the lahar scraped was used as pantambak (filling materials) to the pinak (marshland) atop which SM City Pampanga rose?
One month after Eddie T. Panlilio took his seat at the Capitol, quarry assumed the definition of P1-million per day. And at the same time confirmed the earlier definition of quarry as unexplained wealth and plunder.
So we are now all agreed on all that the Q word stands for? Not yet…
The lexicographic definitions of the word quarry – the Grolier International Dictionary used here – are too clear for any misunderstanding. (What? No mention of sand in the definition? Well, sand, along with marble, mayhaps only came later to join stone as materials being quarried.)
Well-defined as it is, still – in Pampanga – the word quarry has assumed myriad connotations and varied denotations well outside the parameters of its dictionary meaning.
It was not so long ago that the word quarry meant all of these things: some tracts of lands and fishponds, some choice lots in premier subdivisions, condo units along Manila Bay, and the heart of a Mutya ning Kapampangan finalist.
In that same period, quarry assumed the synonyms of top-of-the-line sports-utility vehicles like Lincoln Navigators and Humvee 2s, luxurious S-type Mercedes Benzes and 7-series BMWs. Forget the Pajeros, they were for pesantes. The Patrols, to the bodyguards as back-up vehicles
Still then too, quarry connoted grand palaces and stately mansions sprouting in rustic Porac.
Ah, those attributions were well within our first dictionary entry of the word: “object of pursuit.” The pursuers making prey of the collection pot for their own ends.
In our common understanding, quarry meant digging. For sand, that is. Still, misunderstanding persists.
Again, an instance in the recent past.
Threatened with suspension over the reported indiscriminate quarrying in his town, my once favorite mayor rolled his Rs in his spirited defense that: “There is no quarrying in Mexico. There is only the scraping of lahar from private agricultural lands in pursuit of our noble objective to make them arable again for greater productivity and prosperity of our people.”
Only scraping and not quarrying? Even when the lahar scraped was used as pantambak (filling materials) to the pinak (marshland) atop which SM City Pampanga rose?
One month after Eddie T. Panlilio took his seat at the Capitol, quarry assumed the definition of P1-million per day. And at the same time confirmed the earlier definition of quarry as unexplained wealth and plunder.
So we are now all agreed on all that the Q word stands for? Not yet…
SO, WE
wrote here on October 10, 2007 under the title Defining ‘Q’ with the ending: Truly, quarry is a very dynamic word.
Indeed,
as the “miracle” that was the Reverend Governor’s P611.1 million collections in
his single term made nonfeasance, if not malfeasance, out of the Lapid father
and son’s 11 years combine of P115.6 million.
The
miracle going mega with Gov. Lilia G. Pineda’s P799.2 million quarry revenues in
only her first term, already exceeding P2 billion, and still counting, a year
into her last term.
For all
the connotations and denotations of beneficence, transparency, efficient
collection, and good governance it evokes under the Pineda administration,
quarry has reassumed its materialistic, morally challenged “object of pursuit”
meaning.
At the
Capitol only last Monday, much of the governor’s time was squandered by
interests not even, strictly speaking, within the ambit of her responsibilities
– quarry operations at the Clark Freeport, which as everyone knows is a
distinct republic separate from Pampanga.
Even as the
arguments among an ex- ex-local official, an Aeta leader, and a champion of
marginalized groups on one side, and a Clark “locator” engaged in vibro sand-processing
on the other centered on an ingress-egress blockade issue, the drift went well
beyond it.
Piecing
what was said before the Gov with what we have long been hearing, the bigger
picture of quarrying in Clark comes as a turf war between rival indigenous
tribes, compounded by “outsiders” comprising of a merry mix of former local
officials and police officers, self-serving crusaders, and plain hustlers. All
for that which gave the Capitol no less than million-peso-a-day pay dirt. No pun
intended.
Already
dire at this stage, the situation is further complexed with the leadership
crisis currently obtaining at the Clark Development Corp. which, in the first
place, holds the authority over the area.
With
stakes high as these, the situation can easily turn ugly. Even uglier than in
the elder Lapid’s time when the sands of Passig-Potrero were drenched in blood.
So, what
has the governor to do? Call the CDC OIC who is at the same time the chair of
the Bases Conversion Development Authority to impress upon him the gravity of
the situation and strongly suggest that the usual ingress-egress be immediately
opened to all, with a police contingent deployed in the area meanwhile to keep
the peace.
Yes,
quarry is a dynamic word.
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