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Monday, April 21, 2003
Speak Out: Disappointed with Hunat
By CERWIN T. EVIOTA
Media Director, Filinvest Land Inc.
WE, at Filinvest Land, Inc., lament the withdrawal of Hunat from the process involving the tripartite committee that Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas had initiated to resolve the issues surrounding our project in Barangay Pooc.
This is unfortunate for we have pinned our hopes in this committee in finding and laying down solutions to the problems raised by Hunat. We had committed ourselves from the beginning of the tri-partite process to adhere to the solutions it will come up with.
We feel sad that Hunat leaders no longer want to cooperate with the tripartite process. Their emotions and personal biases, as well as their reactive stance, were more important to them than the benefit of the community they claim to represent.
It is ironical that Hunat suddenly questioned the progress of the procedure we pursued, that its leaders had been aware in the first place in the tripartite meetings, to answer the collective desire to urgently solve the problem on flooding.
In good faith, to give the tripartite conference a chance to succeed, we stopped development work, as Hunat committed to cease resorting to protest actions and media propaganda. Procedural processing of plans and documents continued with the knowledge of all parties concerned.
From the very beginning, even at the environment department level, it was the understanding that the matter of approving the upgraded drainage plans was the responsibility of the Talisay City Government. Hence, engineering designs and plans were submitted to the City for review, evaluation and approval.
The City Engineer’s Office conducted its own verification of the condition at the project site. On the basis of its findings, it found that the upgraded drainage plan was sufficient to address the flooding concerns. Thus, it endorsed the drainage plan for approval by the City Council. All these were known to all the parties concerned as they were openly discussed during the tripartite conference.
With the endorsement of the new design for the drainage in our subdivision project after a comprehensive scrutiny by the City Planner and City Engineer, it was only proper that this would be brought to the City Council for approval. And it did.
It is disappointing that Hunat raised hell on the very solution we have worked on to prevent flooding. And yet it did at a time of urgency when rains will soon come. Does Hunat really want a solution, or is it hoping for more disaster?
FLI has exhausted all means to resolve the issues. Despite the decision of Hunat not to cooperate with the tripartite process, we hope it will reconsider and allow the process to continue. We believe that issues and concerns could better be resolved under an atmosphere of cooperation and level-headed discussion. |
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