THE Commission on Audit’s notices on the failed environmental and waste projects initiated by the Lim administration that started with the planned sanitary landfill project of Dagupan City in Barangay Awai in San Jacinto have not seen the end of it.

City Mayor Belen Fernandez said she is considering to file a complaint against the vendor of the Awai property in San Jacinto which was bought by the city government purportedly for a sanitary landfill of Dagupan at P16 million.

She expressed her intention to recover the money from businessman Jose Mariano Cuna, who sold the property to the city during the administration of then Mayor Benjamin Lim.

The project did not materialize since the property was later found to be covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, and was later reportedly awarded by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to the tenants.

She said the Commission on Audit (COA) has issued an Audit Memorandum on the Awai property, “which was already paid in full by the administration of then Mayor Benjamin Lim, yet no land title was delivered to the city up to now,” she said.

She said she will consult city legal officer, Atty. Victoria Cabrera on the appropriate legal action to be taken since the land was never turned over to the city, Fernandez said.

Files of The PUNCH’s 2001-2002 issues showed the 30-hectare property was sold to the city by one Jose Mariano Cuna who bought the land from Estrella Sangalang, the original owner, for P7 million.

Records also show that at that time of the sale and even before Cuna obtained the property, the land was already the subject of litigation between the tenants of the property and the heirs of the original owner filed before the Department of Agrarian Reform Ajudication Board.

When the tenants and their lawyer learned that the property was sold to Dagupan, they included the city government as among the respondents in the case already being heard by DARAB.

The city eventually lost that case by default, which was the reason the property was awarded to the petitioners.

Fernandez said after the 30-hectare property in Awai was lost, there was no purpose to pursue the sanitary landfill project in San Jacinto.

In a related issue, Fernandez said, when she succeeded as mayor she noted that the dump trucks purchased by the past administration were not brand new as claimed while the Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) that was built could not be used by the city government since it was not suitable for the purpose.

Fernandez also lamented that the past city administration made it appear they were solving the garbage problem when in fact the city was allowing wastes to be dumped on a land of one businessman in San Jacinto as well as built mini-dumpsites in Tambac, Binloc and Boquig, all in violation of Republic Act 9003.

Records showed the Lim administration spent P5 million for the project.

“When we took over, we stopped this,” said Fernandez. (Leonardo Micua with story from CIO/JCB)

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