SONA project: Contractors quarrying illegally

TABUK CITY, Kalinga - According to the records of the Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO), only two of the eight SONA (state of the nation address) project contractors in the province have permits to extract sand and gravel issued by the provincial governor through the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB).

The ENRO named the two contractors as Omengan Construction and Development Corporation (OCDC) and VUC Engineering (VUC) both of which obtained their permits to quarry for 2009 on June 30 or six months late.

Environment and natural resources officer Dominador Tumbali also admitted that none of the SONA contractors have environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) and free prior informed consent (FPIC) from the tribes in whose ancestral domains they are quarrying.

Regarding the ECC, Tumbali said that permittees are supposed to apply in January since their work are usually done in the first two quarters of the year but none of the SONA contractors did “so we have nothing to indorse for the conduct of the ECC process.”

He said that there is only one quarry outfit in the province which has an ECC. The outfit is not involved in the SONA project

As for the FPIC, Tumbali said that they have been conducting consultations but only with the barangay officials and not with the concerned indigenous groups.

“Henceforth, we will require the companies to undergo consultations with the host tribes,” Tumbali said.

Reminded of the provision of the comprehensive land use plan (CLUP) of this city designating the stretch of the Chico River from barangay Dupag down to barangay Bantay which includes barangay Lucog where OCDC and VUC are quarrying as tourism zone and therefore off limits to quarrying, Tumbali said that that too is an issue.

“The problem is they never come to ask permission before they go down to the river. We only learn when the quarrying is already ongoing. We just assume that the extracting companies confine their operation to established gravel pits of the DPWH,” Tumbali said. .

An ENRO personnel who requested anonymity said that it cannot be helped if SONA contractors working in the Tabuk portion of the project quarry in the prohibited zone because downstream, stones for masonry and riprap are already scarce.

The ZZW learned from the ENRO that the projected sand and gravel tax from the 17 packages of the SONA project in Kalinga for 2008 and 2009 is P5M but as of this writing, only P100,000.00 has been paid by the contractors.

Tumbali, however, is not worried about the low collection saying that to date some of the 2008 SONA packages have not yet been accomplished and that contractors usually pay their sand and gravel tax when they get their final payments.

Tumbali also expects that the just signed memorandum of agreement between the provincial government and the DPWH which requires the latter to automatically deduct from payments of contractors the sand and gravel tax due from them will facilitate the payment of the estimated taxes.

Tumbali complained that the collection of sand and gravel tax has been taken for granted until the coming of the SONA projects “when all of a sudden it became important.”

“The mineral program of the government is not the responsibility of just one officer. All stakeholders should contribute their part in the protection of the resources. Our vehicle cannot go to the municipalities of Lubuagan and Balbalan and we are undermanned. Every concerned agency should assist us,” Tumbali said. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr., ZZW

SONA projects: Implementation in Kalinga worse than before - Bantay Lansangan

TABUK CITY, Kalinga - The local chapter of the SONA project watchdog Bantay Lansangan (BL) is disappointed that even after the DPWH effected changes in the administration and supervision of SONA projects in the province, the quality of implementation has not improved.

The group noted in its recent report submitted to the regional SONA project office and the BL central office that nothing has changed from the time of their initial monitoring activities late last year as far as the quality of the work is concerned.

“It is even worse now because there are several blocks where the rain scoured the pavement because apparently, the workers poured the cement while it was raining. This did not happen before,” Rev. Luis Aoas, chairman of the Kalinga and Apayao Religious Sector Association (KARSA) which acts as the local chapter of the BL, told the media.

In their report which was also signed by representatives of the DPWH-Kalinga who joined the joint monitoring activity, the group strongly recommended, among other things, that the seven blocks of pavement in the Tinglayan-Suyo section and two blocks in the Suyo-Tangadan section which they said were scoured by the rain be removed and replaced at the expense of the contractor.

They also urged the removal and replacement of the undersized steel bars of the Mamaga box culvert and likewise the improperly constructed riprap at Bangad Centro, Tinglayan.

BL-Kalinga also criticized the lack of supervision on the part of engineers assigned to the SONA projects in the province saying that during the time they inspected the multi-billion project on June 17, only one SONA engineer was in the site and that they only met the other engineers going to the project site very late in the afternoon.

“Workers (especially on riprap) take instructions from contractors and not from the engineers assigned giving poor quality of project to end user. Project engineers assigned in the area must be present to properly supervise workers especially in critical times like the pouring of cement,” the report said in one part.

“We are very disappointed because we expected that the changes made by Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane in the management of the project would improve the quality of the work but the opposite has happened. The regional director has been changed and local DPWH engineers have been assigned to supervise the construction but things only got worse. During the first month after the local engineers took over, the work improved but it was only for a while because now, it appears that things are worse than before,” Aoas said.

Aoas related that when Ebdane inspected the project on January 2, the BL-Kalinga requested that local engineers take over the supervision of the SONA project from the regional DPWH engineers because of the group’s observation at the time that the projects supervised by local DPWH engineers were better implemented than the SONA projects.

“Ebdane told us that that it is against the policies of the agency but nonetheless granted our request. We also asked for the replacement of the regional director and his assistant because of our observation that they had been remiss in the proper implementation of the SONA project. We now have a new regional director but the flaws in the implementation noted before still remain,” Aoas lamented. **By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW

Tabuk City police foil rob try

TABUK CITY, KALINGA - The police of this city foiled a robbery try of the Anytimecash Sanglaan pawnshop along Mayangao Street when the robbers who have already successfully dug a tunnel underneath the establishment abandoned the attempt.

Acting on an intelligence information they received that robbers were tunneling under an unidentified downtown establishment through a drainage canal, the police investigated and found the newly dug tunnel under the pawnshop with all the equipment used by the robbers for the digging and for gaining entry into the establishment and opening the vault when the opportune time comes.

The tunnel measured 13 feet long and three feet in diameter which ends under the establishment.

The police kept watch on the establishment which is some 75 meters away from the entry point at the outlet of the drainage canal along Daguitan Street at the Abogado Creek since the night of June 3.

When the robbers did not return until morning of June 8, the police concluded that the robbers had caught wind that the tunnel was being watched by law enforcers and abandoned the planned heist.

The police exposed the aborted robbery attempt on June 8 by digging at the doorstep of the pawnshop in full public view. They recovered the following equipment from the tunnel: two shovels, one bolt cutter, one hydraulic jack, three improvised chisels, one insecticide spray and a black bag containing five plastic water containers and candies.

The police believe that the would-be robbers are members of a locally organized crime group which has been victimizing business establishments in the province and even as far as Baguio City.  **BY Estanislao Albano,Jr., ZZW

Family of missing woman bury wrong body

TABUK CITY, Kalinga - The relatives of a mentally ill young woman who had been missing buried the wrong body believing it to be that of their missing kin.

This came to light after the relatives of the missing woman in Artacho, Sison, Pangasinan informed the family that Lailanie Lucena, 36, arrived there on May 28 after wandering around that province for almost two months.

Brenda Ravelo, the sister of the victim with whom she was staying in Magsaysay, this city, then went to see the missing woman for herself and announced to the local media on June 8 that indeed, Lucena is alive and is with their aunt Conchita Macusi in Artacho.

Ravelo said that the information they received while looking for Lucena after she went missing on April 6 that she was seen taking a jeepney bound for Roxas, Isabela at Bulanao, this city, was true.

“She told me that the two men she was seen boarding the jeepney with left her at a restaurant in Roxas giving her P200.00 which she used as fare to Pangasinan. She intended to go to Artacho but boarded the wrong bus which took her to Dagupan City instead. From there she walked and found herself in San Fabian, Pangasinan. She said she went to the police to request that I be informed but apparently the police did not heed her request as I did not receive any communication. They gave her P100.00 which she used to buy food and after that she resumed her wandering and later arrived at Alaminos, Pangasinan. There, she was taken in by a videoke owner for whom she washed clothes and attended to young children to earn her keep. After sometime, she asked the videoke owner directions for Artacho and the latter gave her P150.00 which she used for her fare. Upon seeing her, our relatives thought she was a ghost,” Ravelo said.

Ravelo said that her sister appears to be in one of her sane episodes and is now ashamed to come home to Tabuk due to what happened.

Asked about the body they buried, Ravelo said that the body had the same fair complexion, the nails and arms looked the same and it also had a protrusion on her left foot.

“The body also had an earring on her left ear and we thought that the silver ring on her finger was that of Lailanie,” Ravelo said.

The decomposing body of the unidentified woman was fished out of the Cagayan River in Abaryongan Ruar, Santo Nino, Cagayan on April 30,2009 and buried the same day by the local police and barangay officials.

Learning of the recovered body from the radio, Ravelo went to Santo Nino on May 7 and from the photos of the missing woman she brought, the local police declared they were 90 percent sure the body they buried was that of Lucena.

The Santo Nino police says that according to the medico legal examination conducted, the victim was strangled to death.

The body was exhumed and brought home to Tabuk City on May 11 and buried two days later. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr., ZZW

Detained army officer running for Congress

TABUK CITY, KALINGA – Detained Army Capt. Dante Langkit, 37, has declared his readiness to run for Congress in the coming elections either for the lone congressional seat of his native Kalinga province or through the party list system.

Langkit already took the first step by making sure that he is a registered voter of Taga, Pinukpuk, this province which was made possible when he was granted a three-day temporary freedom by jail authorities so he could travel home.

His twin brother Danzel, however, told the local media that there was no need for the captain to register because upon verification, his name still appears on the voters’ list of Precinct No. 78-A of Taga, Pinukpuk.

“His registration was not affected by his detention,” Danzel said.

Capt. Langkit who was accompanied by two jail guards and told to stick with the approved itinerary talked with the media here on May 12, the last day of his leave from jail, about his political plans.

He said that he is among the members of the Samahang Magdalo (SM), an organization headed by renegade soldiers Gen. Danilo Lim and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, being considered for nomination in the event that the SM will be accredited as a party list organization in time for the 2010 elections.

He said that the SM legal department is already working on the accreditation of the organization as a party list group by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and that at the same time, the SM is in the process of strengthening its national organization through the enlistment of its sympathizers as members of the group.

“We are targeting three percent of the electorate of each congressional district,” Capt. Langkit said.

Gunning for the congressional seat of Kalinga is also an option, the army officer said.

Capt. Langkit rebutted what he branded as black propaganda leveled against the SM.

He said that it is not true that the group is left-leaning and is allied with subversive groups claiming there is nothing in the code of conduct of the SM which is anti-government.

“We advocate love of God, country, family, our people and the environment. We are also averse to bribery and the selling of votes. The SM is a dagger in the heart of the people who do not believe in our advocacies,” Capt. Langkit said.

Capt. Langkit also laughed at the allegations that the SM has lots of funds.

“Our coordinators ride motorcycles. As for us, we are just hitching rides,” Capt. Langkit said.

He told the local media that when his twin brother Danzel made a run for Congress in the last elections, he campaigned on a shoestring budget but still managed to garner 11,300 votes.

A member of Philippine Military Academy Class 1995, Capt. Langkit was nabbed in April 2006 for alleged involvement in the alleged coup plot against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo two months earlier and has been in detention since then. He is being tried by a court martial.

Danzel said that the charges against his brother remain unproven and that there appears to be an effort to delay the court proceedings and deny him justice.

“It is inspiring our sympathizers who want to know the truth,” Danzel said. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr., ZZW

Super body formed to address Chico River pollution

BONTOC, MTN. PROV., May 15, 2009 – The Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC) here created a task force to address the worsening pollution of the Chico River which strands from this landlocked province to Kalinga and Cagayan. The river is suffering from the unabated disposal of garbage and liquid wastes along the river to the detriment of downstream communities and other water users.

The Chico River has been identified as one of the major river systems in the Cordillera that provides sufficient water resources for electric power generation, agriculture, domestic water, ecotourism or recreation and fishery.

The super body will be composed of representatives from the regional offices of the DENR, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), DPWH, DILG, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the local government units of Mountain Province and Kalinga.

The task force shall ensure complimentary and concerted actions of government agencies, local governments and other stakeholders in addressing the problem of garbage and waste disposal and to oversee the effective implementation of activities that would ensure the proper disposal of such wastes of communities and households to prevent the eventual death of the river, popularly being used by foreigners for white-water rafting activities.

Earlier, the province of Kalinga has expressed grave concern on the massive pollution of the river through Resolutions No. 2009-035, 2009-045, 2008-477, 2008-478 and 2005-123 of the provincial board which were eventually endorsed to the RDC-CAR for appropriate action.

The Kalinga provincial government has established a provincial monitoring team headed by boardmember Fernando M. Abay and composed of representatives from the DENR office in Kalinga and the local government units concerned which recently conducted an inspection of the river and met with provincial officials of Mountain Province and the municipal officials of its capital town regarding the alarming state of pollution along the river.

On the other hand, the EMB-CAR also conducted dialogues and consultations with officials of Mountain Province on the establishment of materials recovery facilities, sanitary landfill sites and the conduct of massive information and education campaign activities on solid waste management in communities along the river.

The RDC asserted that only a concerted action of government agencies, local governments and other stakeholders can ensure a comprehensive and sustainable solution to the garbage and waste disposal problem along the river.

For their part, Bontoc municipal officials disclosed they are implementing strict waste management practices to prevent residents from dumping their solid and liquid wastes along the Chico River. **By Dexter A. See, ZZW

Missing Tabuk City woman found dead in Cagayan

TABUK CITY, KALINGA – The body of a woman fished out of the Cagayan River in Santo Nino, Cagayan on April 30, 2009 has been identified as that of a mentally ill 37-year old woman who last left her residence at Magsaysay, this city, on April 6.

Teacher Amparo Dalingay of Casigayan, this city, said that relatives did not feel concerned when Lailanie Lucena, 36, did not come home after a couple of days as she sometimes disappeared for a few days then returned home.

But when Lucena did not come home after a week, relatives and neighbors searched the barangay and neighboring barangays to no avail.

However, one of the search groups got information that Lucena was seen boarding a jeep bound for Roxas, Isabela with a male companion at Bulanao, this city.

Hopes of finally finding the missing woman arose when on May 1, a news report over Bombo Radyo-Tuguegarao City announced that the body of a woman was found in a sack floating in the Cagayan River in Abaryongan Ruar, Santo Nino, Cagayan on April 30 and was buried by barangay official and the police on the same day.

Dalingay said that when Brenda Ravelo, the sister of the victim with whom she was staying, went to Santo Nino on May 7 with photos of Lucena, the local police declared they were 90 percent sure the body they buried was that of Lucena.

Dalingay also said that Ravelo recognized the body to be that of her sister from earrings and a hairclip worn by the victim.

Ravelo quoted the Santo Nino police as saying that according to the medico legal examination conducted, the victim was strangled to death.

Ravelo added that the Santo Nino police did not say whether Lucena was raped prior to being killed or not.

The body was exhumed and brought home to Tabuk City on May 11. **By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW