BONTOC COUNCILOR HIT BY PROTESTS

BONTOC - Residents of two barangays here have asked the national government to stop the sand and gravel extraction operations there which they claimed were owned by Bontoc councilor Arturo Cuadra.

In their petition addressed to President Aquino and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje and DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo, the residents of barangays Guinsangaan and Salog said they were forced to address their complaint to them because the local officials there led by Vice Mayor Pete Fustanes had ignored their complaint.

Fustanes, who we talked to by phone, denied they had ignored the complainants and that the town council had even endorsed their complaint to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and would follow whatever decision the bureau ordered.

He said Cuadra had the town's and provincial government's approval to extract sand and gravel from the river and had set no limit on the amount of S&G he could extract.

A leader of the Movement Against Quarrying in Bontoc claimed protests against it was growing and that a petition which was signed by over a 1,000 residents had urged President Benigno Aquino to investigate the quarrying and bring to court the public officials involved in it.

In their petition they claimed the quarrying was a blatant exploitation of the town's natural resources which were allegedly brought to Cebu aboard large barges.

Councilor Cleofe Abinion (a former DYSL radio broadcaster) who is the chairman of the town council's committee on environment reportedly said the protesters should have brought their case to the town council instead of using the tri-media to air their grievances.
She claimed she had asked the town council to answer their complaint, but that her colleagues did not want to, because they felt the complaint was politically motivated.

But even if it was, she felt it was still a legitimate issue, which should have been addressed. (By ANTHONY KINGS)

Other News

Quarrying face-off set

Roxas listens to local media

Abaca harvest down 75 percent

Local firms go bankrupt

Pneumonia is our top killer

Sogod mayors need 2m to combat crown of thorns

Maasin City's Anjonay fiesta

Most southern Leyteños prefer civil weddings

Saddle road to be reconstructed

"Tabo sa DepEd" to open this July

Provincial board highlights

Local gas prices probes

We need an agrressive population control program

Engineer Veloso twits critics

Miss Southern Leyte candidates 2012