Mark C: Blame SP if Pangasinan loses P100-M fund
FOR OPPOSING TREE CUTTING
CALASIAO—The controversy over the cutting of trees along the Manila North Road is far from over, not a by a long shot.
Former fifth district Congressman Mark Cojuangco said the provincial board must be held liable if the P100-million fund for the road-widening of MNR that traverses Villasis to Sison road network is finally diverted by the national government to another province because of its stiff opposition to tree cutting along the highway.
Cojuangco said the provincial board must be made accountable if the road-widening project would no longer push through because of what he perceived merely as “politicking against me”.
Cojuangco told local newsmen Thursday that it is incredible to find trees standing at the middle of the highway in some major road networks in Pangasinan. “It is only here and nowhere I see trees standing in the middle of the highways, only here in the Philippines. Is what they want reasonable?” Cojuangco asked.
He said he and his wife, Pangasinan Fifth District Rep. Kimi Cojuangco plan to talk to Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson to forestall any plan to divert the fund just as what happened to a road-widening project in Cebu province where funds were diverted because of opposition by some groups on tree cutting traversed by the program.
“Don’t just criticize the tree-cutting. You must criticize also if the project will no longer push through because of what these people do,” Cojuangco told local newsmen, referring to provincial officials opposed to the tree-cutting.
He lamented that it took him and the DPWH five years to get the permit, followed the procedures diligently and when it was already there, the provincial board suddenly blocked it.
“We consulted the local folks, secured local town resolutions approving the removal of the trees and just because a priest came to protest, the process had to stop?,” he complained. Cojuangco was alluding to a group led by running priest Fr. Robert Reyes who came to Pangasinan to show their opposition to the tree cutting along the MNR.
A case was also filed earlier by an environmentalist group in the regional trial court in Urdaneta City seeking an injunction to stop the cutting of trees along the MNR area and Cojuangco promptly filed a petition asking to be allowed to be an intervenor in the case.
The former congressman said he hopes the stopped tree cutting is temporary. He said about 1,200 trees still need to be cut along the MNR that spans the Cojuangcos’ district.
Last Monday, the provincial board stood firm in its earlier resolution that the almost 700 big trees standing within the shoulder of the Manila North Road (MNR) along the Urdaneta, Binalonan and Pozorrubio section should not be cut. (Read separate story on this page).
Cojuangco said the provincial board should not be narrow-minded. “Had I not declared my gubernatorial plan for 2016, perhaps this would not happen,” he said.—(Tita Roces)
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