APO Cement Corporation said that it is now forced to lay-off about 30% of its employees and terminate 40% of its contractors after the shutdown of its principal raw material supplier Apo Land & Quarry Corporation (ALQC) by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, following a landslide in Naga, Cebu last September. In a statement, the company said it has filed a formal notice with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). “APO Cement has been in Cebu for nearly a century already, we have fostered our solidarity and malasakit to our communities for several decades now, but these are extremely challenging times and we need to make these hard decisions,” APO Cement spokesperson Chito S. Maniago said in the statement. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio