Punchline
Criminal cronyism
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE tactical plan of Dagupan City Police chief Romeo Caramat to increase police visibility particularly at night is serving the city well.
The apprehension of four workers of 888 Dagupan Properties Inc. dumping filling materials at the illegal reclamation site along Calmay River, albeit temporary, close to midnight last November was made possible by a roving patrol car. I underscored “roving” because roving police cars are usually a rare sight at night in many cities, no thanks to the limited gas budget of police departments. Patrol cars on assignment are normally parked in some discrete parts of the city while the cops on duty almost always comfortably snore away.
Thanks to the alert patrol cops, the nocturnal illegal activities of the Mangaldan-based company earlier reported by the PUNCH were finally confirmed. Take a bow, P/Supt. Romeo Caramat!
But that’s where the good news ends, and where the bad news begins.
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Some questions need to be answered. Why were the apprehended workers released hastily and were treated like they were mere innocent bystanders? Didn’t the police know that the site was declared an illegal reclamation by the DENR and that the city government was tasked to enforce the order to stop the reclamation? Wasn’t being caught dumping, not “unloading”, soil and gravel at a declared illegal reclamation site a violation of the law? Wasn’t a memorandum from the city council directing the enforcement of the DENR order sufficient ground to haul them to jail and book them? That their arrests would force the masterminds to surface and post bail? Was it possible that the city police didn’t know all that? But of course they knew.
More questions. Weren’t the workers caught red-handed violating the law? Weren’t the suspects asked to explain their presence in the illegal reclamation area, i.e., who paid them to dump the backfill materials? Was it possible that the arresting cops did not believe that their responses were incriminating enough? And, why were the dump trucks and backhoe eventually released when these were material in the prosecution of the people who defied and violated the law?
Now the big question. Did the police get a call from a high-ranking city hall official to release the arrested workers and the equipment without much ado? I surmise that only City Mayor Benjie Lim or City Administrator Vlad Mata could make such a call and order the police to release them. If neither did, then Mr. Mata, at the very least, should be the first to castigate the police for the premature release and make some people accountable. But curiously, both Messrs. Lim and Mata have kept to themselves like nothing happened.
An even bigger question. Were the cops promised a hefty “incentive” to play blind and dumb? By whom?
Pardon me for asking stupid questions.
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Again, I hope to be told I’m wrong but in my book, catching the hired workers of 888 Dagupan Properties red-handed violating a lawful order of the DENR and the city council, and subsequently releasing them with no valid cause, heavily hints of corruption at the city hall at the expense of the city’s residents.
This is not another harmless corruption by our elected officials that could be swept under the rug. It’s the kind that threatens the very welfare of residents who will have to suffer the consequences from the illegal reclamation. Properties and lives can be lost for restricting the flow of the river. We need not speculate because we are now suffering from all the illegal reclamation tolerated in the past – the city now easily gets flooded not only because of clogged and poor drainage and siltation but owing to the overflow of flood waters rampaging through narrower channels.
The obvious official protection lent 888 Dagupan Properties is, therefore, outrageous and reprehensible.
It’s been 5 days, at presstime, since the illegal dumping of sand and gravel at site and the Lim administration has not said a pipsqueak about any legal action to be taken against the officials of 888 Dagupan Properties. In fact, I have no reason to doubt that city hall will continue to ignore the call to take action because as Mr. Lim puts it, “It’s only the PUNCH that’s complaining.” Well, perhaps so and I can’t fault him for thinking that way. The PUNCH is after all just a pesky, mousy, and insignificant advocate for “Tuwid na Daan” and “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”. Frankly, I thought that was a compliment and an acknowledgment of the paper’s small efforts but did that mean Mr. Lim never gave the orders of DENR and the city council any weight as to compel him to act against his friends at 888 Dagupan Properties? That’s arrogance in the highest form.
If Mr. Lim would not lift a finger, then Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez and the city council would be in the right to investigate why the police released the culprits and the equipment to Mr. Lim’s crony knowing full well that a law has been violated.
Meanwhile, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Leduina Co can do this country some good if she formally communicates her office’s displeasure to her superiors and Mayor Lim over the city government’s and the police’s continued failure to enforce DENR’s legal order.
Then, DPWH District Engr. Rodolfo Dion can do the city a favor by restoring the road railing illegally removed by 888 Dagupan Properties, and effectively block its access to the banned area, then file a case against the company for illegally removing the railing.
It’s time criminal cronyism in the city is stopped!
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FISHPONDS TO NOWHERE. As follow-up reports indicate, the “fishponds at the Hundred Islands” appear to be political ponds leading to nowhere.
Alaminos City Mayor Nani Braganza maintains the “ugly dikes” in the picture presented by the Capitol are not found inside the Hundred Islands enclave as claimed. He personally accompanied the local media to where the supposed illegal fishponds (in the published picture) were actually located – outside the 100 Isles’ perimeters and are, in fact, legally registered.
Methinks unless Capitol officials and Rep. Jesus Celeste (who joined the fray in accusing Braganza of official misdeed) can show otherwise, it would appear that they were gullible to believe the misrepresentation of the pilot who shared the picture, hook, line and sinker and did not bother to check verifiable data from other agencies.
From where I stand, Mayor Nani has the answers the Capitol needs. He can also present his birth certificate to show that he was not even old enough to understand the legal mambo-jumbo of the Bolodeco deal at the time. Even demanding Mr. Braganza’s accountability as then Agrarian Secretary to save the Hundred Islands at the time is a bit stretched.
Cool it guys…we’re all on the same boat!
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