ASINGAN–To break the impasse that’s causing the delay in the completion of the flood control project, Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. hinted government may proceed with the enforcement of a writ of possession issued by the court.

Esperon mentioned this possibility as the scheduled dialogue between the landowners and their lawyer, officials of the Flood Control Office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the contractor, Daewoo Engineering and Construction Corporation last June 24 was postponed to June 30.

Alcala Mayor Manuel Collado said the postponement was requested by the landowners.

The dialogue was scheduled to resolve a right-of-way problem that stood in the way of the construction of an approaching channel of the Agno River Flood Control Project in Alcala.

The approaching channel seeks to re-direct the flow of water from the upper stream of the Agno River down in to Alcala, instead of meandering to other arable areas.

The approaching channel which already registered a negative slippage of more than 25 percent, is part of Package 2 of the project’s Phase II budgeted at a cost of P1.5 billion, from a loan obtained by the government from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency thru the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

The completion of the approaching channel is being blocked by a tree plantation whose owners are now demanding an enormous amount as compensation.

Director Philip Menez of the DPWH Flood Control Office accused the land owners of bad faith for insisting to plant trees of unusual spacing at a time when they were just plotting the P1.5 billion project under Package 2 of Phase II of the Agno Flood Control Project.

There are about 10,000 full-grown mahogany trees in that plantation, spaced very thickly, and the owners of the trees are now demanding payment from P6,000 to P7,000 per tree, aside from the value of their land which may amount to something like P160 million..

Esperon said that since the writ of possession was issued by the court as early as two years ago, the government can now enter the area and proceed with its project and will pay the compensation when there is agreement on the rate of compensation.

“This means that we can now work on the project and if later the court would decide to compensate the property and determine the amount to be paid, the government will pay,” Esperon said.

He said the government will go to the dialogue on June 30 but stressed that the enforcement of the writ of possession is an option for the government to prevent any more project delay.-LM

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