Mahogany trees delay Agno Flood Control Project
ALCALA– Malacañang has stepped into the controversy over construction of a right of way for Phase 2 of the big Agno River Flood Control Project (ARFCP) in Pangasinan.
In the middle of the controversy are thousands of mahogany trees planted smack in the middle of the planned right of way by private landowners.
The refusal of landowners to yield to government pleas effectively stopped the construction of the channel thus further delaying the completion of the whole project. Worse, the completed phase is beginning to suffer from negative slippage.
Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. of the Presidential Management Staff has stepped in to help resolve the impasse after inspecting Package II of Phase 2 of the big Agno River Flood Control Project (ARFCP) on Thursday.
Package II project, costing P1.5 billion, involves the construction of a closure dike and approach channel located in Barangay Laoac West, Alcala.
A report of the Department of Public Works and Highways showed that Package II is already suffering negative slippage in its construction mainly due to the unresolved problem of the right of way.
Although the closure dike as well as the approach channel is nearing completion, the refusal of landowners to sell their land where the channel will cut through on its way to the Agno River prevents government from proceeding.
The landowners who planted some 10,000 or more fully grown mahogany trees on a land that would be traversed by the channel are demanding payment of from P6,000 to P7,000 per tree, aside from the value of their land.
Esperon scheduled a meeting on June 24 at the Alcala municipal hall among all stakeholders, namely: the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd, the landowners and their lawyer and the municipal government of Alcala led by Mayor Manuel Collado.
Philip Menez of the DPWH accused the landowners of bad faith because the landowners started planting mahogany trees at an unusual spacing of just a few inches just about the same time the DPWH started Package II project, knowing fully well where the channel will be built.
Mayor Manuel Collado, a lawyer, echoed Menez’s lament noting the unusual spacing of the trees.
The Korean engineers of Daewoo said the landowners even put snakes in the tree plantation area and barricaded the whole place to ward them off.
The funding came from part of the multi-billion peso loan extended to the Philippine government by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that also funded ARFCP’s Phase I which was already completed.
Expropriation proceedings have reportedly been filed by the DPWH on the properties but no early date of the resolution was seen.
Meanwhile, Esperon noted that the court already issued a writ of possession in favor of the DPWH which means that that the government can already enter the property even if the landowners have not been compensated. – LM
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