SP alarmed by garbage dumping along Baywalk
AS always, everyone points to everyone to be blamed but themselves when push comes to shove.
This was the case when the Sangguniang Panlalawigan conducted its inquiry in aid of legislation last week on the reported dumping of garbage along the Lingayen-Binmaley Baywalk project.
Present at the inquiry were the barangay chairmen of Lingayen’s Maniboc, Pangapisan, Poblacion, Libsong West and East in Lingayen and Baybay Lopez and Binmaley’s Isidro Norte, chiefs of Lingayen and Binmaley Police Stations, PNP, Lingayen’s municipal information officer, and municipal administrator of Binmaley.
Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim expressed his dismay over the absence of Mayor Josefina Castañeda who decided to snub the Provincial Board’s invitation to help resolve the issues of cleanliness and orderliness along the baywalk.
Evangeline Pescador, Lingayen’s information officer, told the board that LGU Lingayen has nothing to do with the baywalk, much less its maintenance while Binmaley’s municipal administrator stressed that it the town’s garbage are regularly collected.
Evan Gladish Domalanta, General Services Officer of the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center claimed that most of the garbage dumped in the Baywalk and near the Capitol Building and Maramba Boulevard were from tourists and hotels and households and informal settlers in Lingayen.
It came to a point when Calimlim had to remind them that they were not invited to the inquiry looking for anyone to blame but to look for solutions.
At the end of the inquiry, the SP decided to form a technical working group to monitor and implement cleanliness and orderliness along the Baywalk.
Police chiefs Supt. Jackie Candelario (Binmaley) and Supt. Fidel Junio (Lingayen) attempted to represent their respective town mayors but their representation was denied since they are not members of the local government but the PNP.
In a later exclusive PUNCH interview with Mayor Josefina Castaneda, she stressed that SP cannot blame her or look in her direction now that problems have surfaced along the Baywalk, which she said is under the jurisdiction of the provincial government.
Castaneda said, “bakit nila ako gustong isangkot ngayon dyan, samantalang noong ginagawa ang project na yan inenvolve ba kami dito sa munisipyo? Ano ba ang tawag mo sa may ginagawa sa loob ng solar mo, sa bahay mo, ni hindi man lang sabihin sa iyo anong project ito, nasa harap ng bahay ko na yong project ni hindi ko nga alam kung coastal road ba yan? Baywalk ba yan? O bakit ngayon, may problema sila gusto ako nila akong idamay?
She said, she even threatened to bulldoze the Baywalk area in front of her house located in Alvear 2, in Maniboc when her house was submerged by a knee-high flood since the Baywalk blocked the waterway to the sea.
Castaneda said, all the residents of Alvear 2 are experiencing flood since the Baywalk was constructed and added that they were not consulted before the implementation of the said project.
She stressed that garbage and squatter issues along the Baywalk, the problems of the provincial government, not her town LGU Lingayen is paying P800 per tons of garbage to be dumped in Bamban Tarlac since the open dumped site and MRF in Quibaol have been closed last year.
Board Member Rosary Gracia Tababa requested for the inquiry to call the attention of the concerned agencies about the cleanliness along the Baywalk.
Meanwhile, Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer (CENRO) Celso Salazar, said the Governors Office, LGUs of Lingayen and Binmaley, PNP, Maritime, DSWD and BFAR have been asked last July 27 to reach an agreement among law enforcement agencies, and LGU’s to maintain orderliness along Baywalk and to prevent illegal settlers’ entry into the baywalk and coastal areas. (Nora Dominguez)
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