Baraan vows to fight indictment
OVER ALLEGED BLACK SAND MINING
“WE did not violate any law.”
This was repeatedly asserted by Provincial Administrator Rafael Baraan, who finally broke his silence over his indictment by the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged extraction of black sand along the seashore in Lingayen.
“That came as a complete surprise to us because as far as we know, we were doing everything within the bounds of the law and according to regulations,” remarked a still baffled Baraan before provincial government employees who assembled at the Capitol Plaza here during the regular Monday Flag-Raising Ceremony last week.
He said, “In fact, we received an environmental compliance certificate last January 2013 which means that there is nothing technically wrong with the implementation of the project.”
Baraan also vehemently denied the Ombudsman’s charge that apart from the extraction of black sand in the area, thee extracted mineral was exported to China for P10.7 million.
“Not a single grain of magnetite sand has been removed from the site up to this time because we respected the law,” he intoned.
This fact Baraan said, was confirmed by Aro Mo Ako Sambayan (Aromas) president Vicente Oliquino, the lead complainant in the anti-graft case filed against Gov. Espino, who told mediamen who sought him in his home last week.
Oliquino led members of the media to Barangay Malimpuec, some three kilometers east of his village Sabangan where the stockpile is located to prove the allegation wrong.
He said the information that magnetized sand was exported was never included in the complaint and suspects that it “may have been raised after the filing of the case.”
Indicted along with Baraan for two counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act is Governor Amado Espino Jr. while Alvin Bigay, chief of the Provincial Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Office, was indicted for one count of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices.
All three have since filed a motion for reconsideration.
Also indicted were 12 officers and board of directors of Alexandra Mining and Oil Ventures Corporation and Xypher Builders Mining Corporation which were allegedly employed to remove black sand from the shoreline where the provincial government intended to build the 18-hole golf course.
The complaint was filed by 13 complainants from Lingayen who protested the extraction of black sand from the beach for fear that the extraction would make their villages vulnerable to environmental disasters.
Baraan said the provincial government fully complied with the cease-and-desist order of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the provincial government.
Espino was exonerated in the administrative case by virtue of his reelection for a final and last term of office but Baraan and Bigay were found liable for misconduct and meted the penalty of dismissal from the service with accessory penalties of cancellation of eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetual disqualification from reemployment in the government service.
Baraan lamented that they had been indicted for the wrong reasons and that as far as he is concerned there is nothing to rectify.
The provincial administrator quipped, “I have been serving this province since 1975 and I have serviced with no personal agenda. I’ve always thought about what good I would be able to do for our people in this province.”
“Gov. Espino has been trying his very best to bring progress and prosperity in the province and to bring good things for the poor,” but unfortunately, politics stood in the way,” he added
He expressed hope that the Ombudsman will consider their motion for reconsideration and “puts reason above politics.” (LVM/Johanne Macob)
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