A retired gov’t employee’s lonely fight for the sea
LINGAYEN—Give back the sea to us.
This is the plea of 70-year old Rolando Rea, “the last man standing” among the original complainants in the Ombudsman case filed against Gov. Amado Espino Jr. et al on alleged black sand mining in the coastal town here.
Rea told The PUNCH that even after the other complainants withdrew he vowed to fight until his last breath, even all by himself, “not for me but for the poor people”.
Rea said he and his neighbors could no longer view the sea as the area of the alleged black sand mining operation was fenced off with six feet tall concrete wall that stretches three kilometers long from the end of Barangay Sabangan until the end of Barangay Estanza and to the boundary of Barangay Malimpuec.
He said he does not mind if some people benefitted from the mining activity because his only concern are the poor people who depend on fishing but could no longer pass through the area since their access has been blocked and tightly guarded.
“I’m already old, ready to die but I am fighting for poor people,” he said.
He said he started his fight in 2010 and was joined by some barangay officials who eventually left him. He said he knew he is fighting political giants.
The area was first cordoned with the use of barbed wire by people close to ranking provincial official.
“What they were saying that it would be a golf course is not true. That was only their front. They kept on digging 24 hours,” he said.
He said he has no political ambition whatsoever so he is not motivated by politics.
He said he was very happy that after four years, the Office of the Ombudsman indicted Espino and 13 others for allegedly engaging in illegal black sand mining trade in the Lingayen Gulf area.—Tita Roces
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