Lawyer Raymundo Celino, counsel for the Shilan Chicken Dung Association said the group has the right to get back its money since this is illegally collected by the Municipal Government.
The Shilan Association, he said, conducted trade on the lots of Beatrice Digman and Jimmy Pulac, which were not among the designated sites for chicken dung trade then.
The Municipal Council in the past administration passed a resolution allowing the trade, but identified areas that this must be done. The Pulac and Digman lots were not among those.
Chicken dung business is banned in La Trinidad, as per the town's ordinance on the abatement of nuisance. The Municipal Council in 2005, however, allowed the sale as an experiment, for the possible passage of a legislation regulating the business.
Early this year, La Trinidad Mayor Artemio Galwan ordered all the traders in Shilan to stop their trade in the area. This forced the traders to move to nearby Tublay.
From this stemmed the request of the Shilan Association for the Municipal Government to return the money they had paid during the course of their operations.
The traders who sold within the areas designated by the council or those considered "legal" are not getting back their payments.
Celino claimed that since the association was, from the very beginning, operating illegally but still paid the required P0.50 centavos per sack to the local treasury, it has all the right to ask for its refund.
"It is but logical that the Municipal Government give back the money which was collected from the group because the collection (from the Shilan Association) was also considered illegal," Celino said.
The group paid more than P200,000 to the town government, Celino estimated.
Traders were made to pay P0.50 centavos from each sack of chicken dung sold at Shilan. This was deposited to a municipal trust fund.
Councilor Jim Botiwey who was a member of the council, which passed the resolution allowing the chicken dung trade, said the move of Pulac is unfair because the Municipal Government allowed the dealers to conduct their business.
He explained the council did not abandon its intention to pass an ordinance regulating chicken dung, which would legalize the business in the municipality.
Celino maintained Pulac and his group should be reimbursed for their money. The Shilan group paid under the name of Pulac, who owned the lot. Pulac was supportive of Celino's move.
He further accused the Municipal Council of confusing Digman, one of the lot owners of the areas that were excluded in the municipal resolution, to make the situation worse.
Earlier, Digman wrote the council, objecting to the request of Celino's clients. Digman's letter was used by the council as one of its bases in rejecting Celino's request.
Digman, however, retracted her objection, saying she has no right over the money being claimed by the Shilan traders, as this is not her money but that of the association.
Celino admitted that the decision of the Shilan association to pay to the government under Digman and Pulac's name was a wrong move.
"But even then, this is not their money because the traders have been paying them P1.50 per sack as rentals to their lots. Those paid to the government are purely the money of the traders," he said.
Celino dared the Municipal Council to make a stand on his clients' request. "If they do not want to pay back the money, they should pass a resolution rejecting our request so I can make the necessary move and file a case (against them) in court."
"The council is in a contradictory position. They do not want to return (my clients' money) because they claim the proposed ordinance to regulate and legalize the chicken dung business was only shelved, yet the mayor is firm in saying the trade will never be allowed in the municipality because it would run counter to the ongoing project on the processing of organic fertilizers made from vegetable trimmings," Celino said.
Botiwey said all the money paid by the traders be it the legal or the illegal ones, is intact. "The money was not spent, it is deposited in the municipal trust fund," he told Celino's group, who attended the council session on Wednesday.
The traders who are asking the return of their money are those who bought chicken dung from the truckers coming from the lowlands and then retailing the by-product to farmers, who use these as an organic fertilizer.
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(September 4, 2008 issue)
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