Legal troubles ahead for Dagupan

 

By Leonardo Micua 

BEFORE our deadline, we heard that Mayor Brian Lim is facing an investigation before the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) for sitting on the request of Sure Global Waste to Worth Innovation Ltd for a statement of support for too long… yes statement of support, in connection with its Waste to Worth project set to rise in Dagupan.

ARTA reportedly gave Mayor Lim 24 hours to submit his response and other supporting documents from receipt of the 1st Endorsement signed by Atty. Marco Angelo E. Balleser dated 04 February 2020.

The acts complained of by Sure Global represented by its president and Chief Executive Officer Jillian Courts Boughton pertains to the supposed violation by the Dagupan mayor of Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.

We know that Ms. Boughton, accompanied by Commissioner Crispian Lao of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, came to Dagupan in November and reiterated to the city council and later to Mayor Lim the joint venture agreement signed by the previous administration and her company.

She told the SP that her company was ready to build the Waste to Worth project after the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for the project was issued by the Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR, a copy of which she even showed to some city councilors.

She added that the machine intended for this project, costing US$15 million when completed without a single centavo counterpart from the city except for the land where the project will rise, was already built in South Korea and ready to be transported to Dagupan.

By the way, the identified location of the project is a 20,000 sq. meter land in Bonuan Binloc segregated from the 72-hectare national park by virtue of a proclamation signed by former President Benigno Aquino III.

After Ms. Boughton’s presentation, we heard Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo say that Dagupan would be in a lot of trouble if it does not honor the joint venture agreement signed by the past city administration and Sure Global as he went to enumerate the series of resolutions and ordinances passed by the past SP relative to the project.

I sense troubles for Dagupan are just starting with this issue, beginning with ARTA.

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Is it true that all the barangay kapitans, except their president Lino Fernandez, head honcho of Lucao, had been removed (ousted may be the right word) as members of the City Development Council and replaced by heads of non-government organizations sympathetic to the city mayor?

If so, then Brian’s administration committed another misstep because Punong Barangays are mandated as regular members of City and Municipal Development Councils under the Local Government Code of 1991. 

Section 107 of RA 7160 (Composition of local Development Councils) states that the following should compose the local development councils: 1) All punong barangays in the city. 2) The chairman of the committee on appropriations of the Sangguniang Panlungsod.  3) The congressman or his representative; and 4) Representatives of non-governmental organizations in the city as the case may be, who shall constitute not less than one-fourth (1/4) of the members of the fully organized council.”  

We can only guess the motive of Mayor Brian in unceremoniously ousting the barangay kapitans from the City Development Council. Perhaps it is to make that body a rubber stamp so that he can do what he wants without any opposition or transparency.   

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As we were writing this column, somebody sent us a copy of the column in the Manila Times of our fellow ex-PNAer Ramon “Mon” Tulfo that put our very own Raul Lambino, administrator of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CESA) and special adviser for Northern Luzon, in the firing line.

Raul, of course, is the husband of Mangaldan Mayor Marilyn Lambino and the father of Vice Governor Mark Lambino.

The allegation made in that column was so serious for Tulfo to label the CEZA administrator as “outrageously corrupt”.

If true, he has a lot of explaining to do to his province mates, especially to President Duterte who hates corruption in government, especially among members of his cabinet.

Raul has been reportedly making the rounds in the fourth district, possibly salivating at the position still occupied by Congressman Toff de Venecia.

Let’s see what happens when President Digong reads Tulfo’s column. We can only guess.

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