RESIDENTS of Eversley Child Sanitarium in Mandaue City filed graft and corruption complaints against their barangay captain for accommodating a private firm in its foreshore area.

Stand accused are Jagobiao Barangay Captain Edita Montesa and her nine councilors: Lino Ledris, Danilo Elbao, Matilde Valencia, Rodney Sebua, Gladys Dumalagan, Dante Tumongha, Gerardo Lim and Geraldine Alferez.

In a document submitted to Virginia Palanca-Santiago, 30 signatories stated that instead of promoting the welfare of the community, the barangay council acted as a “land broker” by issuing clearance and allowing ProFoods Corp. to claim 12 hectares of timberland in an area owned by the National Government.”

When sought for reaction, Montesa said the role of the barangay in granting clearance to applicants is purely ministerial.

Some 1,284 residents last September 2008 filed a petition to revoke a barangay resolution granting clearance to ProFoods International Corp., to develop a foreshore area inside the hospital compound.

In their petition they alleged that there was no public consultation, nor was there a consultation with Eversley Child’s Sanitarium management or Department of Health where the hospital is under before the clearance was ranted to ProFoods.

Also that same month, the group filed a separate complaint to Mandaue City Council where they attached the speech of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on October 9, 2003 where she directed then housing official Mike Defensor to speed up the processing and distribution of the lot to qualified beneficiaries of the government’s socialized housing program in that place.

They also attached an old document, when the country was still under the United States Commonwealth government, proclaiming the land and its foreshore areas as owned by the hospital.

But nothing happened in their complaint and the barangay clearance issued was not revoked prompting them to file a case at the Ombudsman.

In their complaint, they accused these barangay officials as irresponsible, lacking of integrity, disloyal to the people, ineffective and inefficient in doing their job.

They caused irreparable injustice by “self-aggrandizing on land deals with private interests,” the said. They formally filed graft and corruption complaint.

Montesa said she will answer all these when she receives the formal complaint.

But she questioned the personality of the complainant, as they were mere squatters in that land. She said it should be officials of hospital or DOH who should be filing the complaint.

The city’s Home and Urban Development Office (Hudo) chief, Francisco Amit, said that initially the city has to establish the status of that questioned area.

If it’s a foreshore area then Mandaue City has jurisdiction over it, based on Mandaue City Charter which mandates that all lands and foreshore areas as owned by the city.

He said the mayor might convene all involved parties to discuss their respective interests, but since the case is already filed at the Ombudsman, then they will have to wait and see.

But Amit was wondering why the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was out of the picture when it is the agency that issued environmental compliance certificate (ECC) to the private firm before it is authorized to operate there.

The major requirements before ECC granted are social acceptability, or community resident’s approval and barangay clearance. (OCP)

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(November 23, 2008 issue)
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